Entrepreneur & Startup Tutor Farida Yahya of LumoNaturals is Our #BellaNaijaWCW this Week

Our #BellaNaijaWCW this week is Farida Yahya, an author, entrepreneur, and startup coach. She’s the founder of LumoNaturals, an Abuja-based natural haircare solutions brand. She’s also a startup tutor and the founder of The Brief Academy, a learning hub for female startup owners.

Farida’s LumoNaturals provides a combination of natural products, techniques, artistic styles and education about African hair and the importance of healthy and natural hair to naturalistas.

In her book Redefining Beautiful, Farida shared her then 10-year old journey in going natural and starting LumoNaturals.

Farida, a BellaNaija contributor was one of the 10 youth leaders selected to meet (the then) UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon (in 2015) to discuss development, climate change and the role of the youths in promoting the sustainable development goals and increasing momentum and ownership in Nigeria.

She’s also a member of a UNDP-selected group of young leaders as part of a technical group for the sustainable development goals to inspire the next generation of leaders on their roles in localising and achieving the goals in sub national levels.

She launched Northernlife Nigeria in 2016, an online media platform designed to showcase the diversity of the people of Northern Nigeria, using multimedia channels, citizen reporting, and creative writing, exploring the rich cultural history of its people. The platforms is working towards changing the narrative of region as one of under-achievers, and engaging the citizens on collective responsibility to solve the region’s challenges.

She’s also the co-founder of Ja Muje, a platform for citizen-led, community-driven action towards achieving sustainable growth and development of Northern Nigeria, with a focus on education, health, business and innovation. The Forum employs an innovative approach of combining conversations, a think tank of researchers and a mentors’ program to build a community of changers and youth leaders.

Farida has a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Maiduguri and had work as a laboratory assistant in Dangote Flour Mills in Kano.

Farida was on Leading Ladies Africa’s “100 Most Influential Women in Nigeria” list in 2020.

We celebrate Farida for being an inspiration in entrepreneurship and for her work in achieving the sustainable development goals, especially in northern Nigeria.