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HairWeavon Yinka

Yinka Martin - Celebrating 10 Years in Business

Winner of 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Yinka Martin worked as a Project Manager prior to setting up HairWeavon in 2011. Initially launched as a hair extensions company, HairWeavon progressed to manufacturing wig and hair pieces for women and men experiencing hair loss. With customers here in Ireland which includes the HSE and abroad in several countries through HairWeavon's Ecommerce website.

Inspiration - Own Experiences & Gap in the Irish Market

“Hair is a big deal for women of colour, most women of colour struggle with our hair and wear some sort of hair extensions or hair pieces. Growing up in Ireland I found it difficult to find good quality hair pieces, so I decided to start my own Hair Company to help women and men experiencing hair loss and so HairWeavon was born!”

Getting Started – Building Relationships & Aligning Business Value’s

“Being such a personal and often sensitive product for some, it was important that the quality of the products we offered was really the best. I couldn't risk finding suppliers through the web. So I travelled to India and several Asian countries to source good quality ethical hair and to build relationships with manufacturing partners who were aligned with my business values.”

Becoming Self-Employed – Celebrating a decade in business

“I juggled HairWeavon and a full time job as a Project Manager for a Large Corporate bank for 6 months and then decided to give HairWeavon my full attention. I felt I had my degree and some experience behind me to fall back on and I really felt I was in a great country to start a business. Here we are, having just celebrated 10 Years of HairWeavon.”

Challenges & Opportunities

“The biggest challenge was trying to grow and market the business on a shoestring and making many personal sacrifices when we were starting out but this has proven to be a good thing, as it has allowed us to grow organically while learning each day from our customers and evolving to develop more products for the hair loss solution market.”

LEO Supports Received

“In the early days, we didn't always have access to financial support but we received valuable soft supports from the LEO. In the form of mentoring, subsidised training courses and networking opportunities with likeminded people. We continue to be connected with the LEO and still avail of the training programs as we grow.”

HairWeavon has received a number of financial supports from LEO Dublin City including:

  • Two Priming Grants
  • Business Expansion Grant
  • Feasibility Grant
  • Two Technical Assistance for Micro-Exporters Grant (TAME)
  • Trading Online Voucher (TOV)

HairWeavon also went on to win Most Improved Business of the Year 2013 with LEO Dublin City.

COVID-19 – Increased Product Offering & Growth Surge through Online Sales

“We had spent 10 years working hard on growing our online business so when COVID hit, we didn't panic, we were really prepared for this type of growth surge. In response, we've increased our online product offering and introduced video consultations and more relevant content to make buying online easier for our customers.” Next steps - 2021 and beyond “We will continue to increase the brands and products we offer to become the largest marketplace for everything wigs and hair pieces in Europe, while building and supporting our community of customers.”

Contact & Further Details

Yinka Martin - shop@hairweavon.com - +353 (0) 1 430 3978

https://www.hairweavon.com/

Instagram @hairweavon_com

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