Rihanna wants to put Zimbabwe under her umbrella 

Rihanna wants to put Zimbabwe under her umbrella

Mako Jerera

Barbadian singer and fashion mogul Rihanna has announced that her highly respected Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin products will be officially distributed in a select African countries including Zimbabwe.

For years, beauty and skincare fanatics in the country who did not have access to outside markets had to contend with counterfeit products, which were in most cases overpriced.

The gap appears to have been plugged as Rihanna, who is among the most successful musicians of the 21st century announced on her Twitter that she wishes to spread her brands` tentacles to Africa.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment!! @fentybeauty & @fentyskin are finally dropping in AFRICA!!! Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe…we comin at ya May 27th and that’s just the beginning!!! #FentyAfrica,” she wrote.

Fenty Beauty is a cosmetics brand that was launched in September 2017.

The brand was immediately praised for its broad inclusivity catering to more skin tones and all sized women than other brands.

Fenty Beauty became one of the first makeup brands to offer over 40 (now 50) foundation shades.

Makeup brands have notoriously failed to cater to Black and brown communities, and Fenty came to cover the niche.

The company sits under luxury French corporation LVMH, and said company gave Fenty global distribution through multinational retailers Sephora.

Sephora products were not easily accessible to African clientele — until now.

According to the Fenty Beauty website, Rihanna was inspired to create Fenty Beauty & Fenty Skin after years of experimenting with the best-of-the-best in beauty—and still seeing a void in the industry for products that performed across all skin types and tones.

Starting with Fenty Beauty foundation, face primer, and Gloss Bomb, she launched a makeup line “so that people everywhere would be included,” focusing on a wide range of traditionally hard-to-match skin tones, creating formulas that work for all skin types, and pinpointing universal shades.

In 2018, the makeup brand was generating more than $550 million United States Dollars in annual revenues, earning more than Kim Kardashian West’s KKW Beauty, Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics and Jessica Alba’s Honest Company.

Forbes has estimated Fenty Beauty alone to be worth $2.8 billion United States Dollars.