African Hair Summit 2016 Recap

This event was wonderful!…and to think I almost considered not going the day before. 😀

The African Hair Summit 2016 was held last week on the 17th and 18th of June at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotels, Abuja.

I got up at 5am but for obvious reasons since I was travelling with my mum, we ended up leaving Kaduna at 8am.

I was slightly worried that we would miss a lot because I knew we wouldn’t get there on time but little did I know that, the Ankara carpet starts at 9am but the event actually begins at 11am. In other words, I was early! I was so excited when I found out.

When we got there, we were first approached by Adannas Mum and daughter ( I didn’t know that then, I found out later).

Adanna Ifeoma Enwezor is the brains behind the event, just incase you were wondering.

We then moved on to the registration table and the reception was heart warming.

I immediately felt welcome as my mum and I were led to the Ankara red carpet.

We got interviewed and I met so many beauties! It was wonderful to see the faces of people who support me through social media.

After about 20mins, I was done with pictures and interviews and was ready to take my seat when the gorgeousness that is Kate Henshaw strutted past me and my new posse and I froze still.

It was KATE HENSHAW in the FLESH.

faints.

I watched her as she got interviewed and took some pictures briefly and in a space of a few minutes, she was already seated.

I sat with my mum 3 rows behind her and noticed she was the only one in the front row so before my mum could say, “Chinwe go and greet Kate Henshaw”, I was already on my feet!

Mama you ain’t gotta tell me twice. Haha

To be honest I don’t know where my confidence came from and I don’t remember half of the things I was saying after I greeted her but as fate with have it,  we ended up chatting and hugging like we had known each other for years.

Soon after, the event took off in full swing as we sang the Nigerian national anthem and our MC for the day Mr. Obinnaya Uruakpa engaged us and made us laugh constantly while he introduced different speakers to the stage.

We had some lovely spoken poetry on the beauty of African hair by Omoawe, followed by the opening speech by Adanna Enwezor and beautiful music sang by Jessica Bongos.

Mr. Fubara Chukwu Representing the Minister of Health also enlightened us on the governments progress with ensuring safe use of chemicals put in hair products while Dr Kemi educated us on the harmful effects within our everyday beauty products.

After her presentation, we were shown a documentary made by the Photizo Life Foundation that stressed the deterioration of African hair due to harmful hair practices and the constant use of harsh chemicals.

Soon after, I was approached by kind Sarah to be a part of the panel to discuss issues surrounding natural African Hair and to answer questions from the audience and of course I said yes!

Day 1 ended on a high note as Jenny aka Jennyblack a beautiful youth corper won the N25,000 gift voucher for Shoprite.

Day 2 started off with the Ankara red carpet and interviews but this time I was interviewed by a lovely lady from NTA. My shy mum also got in front of the camera too! I was so proud. I love you mommy! 😀

When we were done, we moved into the hall sang the national anthem and then we had three different speakers.

One was a Representative from the Ministry of Trade & Investment. He spoke on how the government was working on supporting local beauty businesses in Nigeria.

The second speaker was Kemi Robinson who shed light on the use of locally sourced materials for making natural hair products while the third speaker was Ruth Ebhota who encouraged us on setting up our own natural hair and skin product businesses. They were all delights to listen to.

Next up was the Fashion Show by Mina Stones & Fekeye Sekida. This was very entertaining and a nice interlude to all the information we had received.

We had a second panel on day 2 featuring Madame Merola of House of Merola, Natmaine a Trichologist and Farida the CEO of Lumonaturals Salon.

They discussed on how to care for natural hair using natural products and answered questions from the audience. The panel was also very informative and I enjoyed it very much.

Finally, our ambassador for the African Hair Summit Kate Henshaw announced the winner of the Photo Challenge that was conducted via Instagram and other gifts from House of Merola, Lumonaturals and Wow Braids were given to members of the audience.

I’m very glad I attended this event and I can’t wait to be a part of The African Hair Summit 2017.

African Hair Summit aired on NTA News.

As you can see, the event was well thought through and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. Can’t wait for African Hair Summit 2017. 🙂

Please tag anyone you recognise in the comment section below!