The genesis of Mildred Agbana”™s entrepreneurship began in 2012 with the birth of her first daughter ”” the child developed severe skin sensitivity brought on by eczema and extremely dry skin. Her daughter”™s condition at this time was severe enough that “it got to a point where she”™ll actually bleed out from scratching,” Agbana recalled. “I was very frustrated, and I became depressed about the whole thing.”
After sifting through various skin care products to no success, Agbana”™s mother in Ghana advised her to look into applying shea butter, a seed fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. Shortly after receiving her mother”™s shipment of Ghanaian shea butter through the mail, Agbana noticed results.
“By the second day, I was seeing that her skin was being moisturized for the whole entire day, and she stopped scratching as much as she was doing before,” Agbana recollected. “Within a week, her skin is looking really great. The eczema flare ups have actually gotten better.”
From that moment, Agbana sought to help others in similar predicaments by making shea butter more accessible. First opened in 2019, Agbana”™s Yonkers-based e-commerce venture Mimaami Organics currently offers shea moisturizers in cocoa vanilla, lavender and grapefruit fragrances as well as a fragrance-free variant, in addition to African black soap made of turmeric and sandalwood, among other ingredients.
The moisturizers soothe dry skin and alleviate itchiness from allergies, and the products may be used in other applications including as an after-shave moisturizer. Agbana works with contractors and consultants to import shea butter from Ghana, where she is originally from, in coordination with female-led cooperatives.
“The goal is to empower people ”” empower customers, empower the women in the supply chain ”” and also create an impact in the world,” she said, noting how “these women who make up part of the supply chain or are very instrumental to the supply chain, it looks like they”™ve been left behind. I also want to change that in creating paths.”
One of the paths Agbana is creating involves a maternal and child health fund that she set up to address the high rate of mortality of mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa. Mimaami Organics”™ goal is to provide medication to two clinics in the region for the purpose of assisting women when giving birth.
To better symbolize the business”™s orientation toward female empowerment and focus on motherhood, Agbana changed its name from the original moniker of Kinapure Skincare to Mimaami Organics ”” “mimaami” meaning “my mother” in the Akan language of Ghana.
“It symbolizes a mother”™s love, wanting the best for her child or her children, and that”™s just the way I want the brand to move forward,” she said.
Agbana”™s story and goals has attracted many people and supporters.
“Customers love our products,” Agbana said. “Customers love what we”™re doing (by) giving back, they love the story and they trust that it”™s coming from a mother.”
Agbana has also been part of the Amazon Black Business Accelerator program and received grants from the e-commerce company. She acknowledged that she was “grateful for platforms like Amazon that have really put in a lot of resources. They gave us a grant as well, and we have an account manager there that meets with me every month to go over our sales goal and our strategy at this time.”
Westchester County”™s Launch1000 also proved to be very helpful ”” the program offers 1,000 business-oriented Westchester residents the chance to launch a business and learn related topics.
“The Launch1000 program is an excellent program that gave me a lot of the foundation that I needed,” she said. “Even though I was in business school, it was a different, real-life training that is really helping me right now with the business”
Agbana greatly values such assistance and support from the business community, though as a black woman keeping a still-young business afloat, she feels there could stand to be more support.
“Getting access to certain things as a black female has not been that easy. Most of the time, I have to do my own research because I don”™t really have a network that I can tap into,” Agbana stated. “I think I did a lot of the legwork by myself. I wish there”™ll be more resources out there to support women like me or any minority person who just wants to create an impact and create a legacy.”
November will see the launch of new products to the Mimaami Organics line. The Out of Africa collection will be composed of four oils, all sourced from sub-Saharan Africa: argan oil, baobab oil, calabash oil and marula oil. Also on tap will be belly butter and African black soap face wash and body wash.
It’s a pleasure partnering with Mildred on the Mimaami Organics brand! Great products with sustainability and fair trade rooted in the brand dna. Several exciting projects to come in Q4 + 2023!