By Shane Marks
On Monday, Guyana along with other countries around the world join in celebrating the 184th anniversary of Emancipation. In Guyana, Bambi’s Collection, a self-care business owned by young, vibrant, and studious 21-year-old Akeisha Aaron-Braithwaite is seeking to help people of African ancestry take special care of their hair. 
Established in 2019, Bambi’s Collection started as a hair care business after Akeisha was faced with her own haircare struggle after “chopping” off her locks. As she was starting to lose her self-confidence because of her shorter hair, she wanted to find that product, the right one, that would not only grow her hair but make it healthy.
“I was a Rasta,” she said. “I did a big chop. I took it all off because mostly interlocking used to be very tight. People with Rasta hair know that it’s a challenge. So, my hair was very long and it was getting a little heavy for my head. So, I chopped it all off and I had very short hair. So, my confidence was a little low. My self-confidence was low.” 
She said she did not find that hair product in the self-care aisle at supermarkets and so this led to her make it herself. Akeisha said it took her a while but it was an adventure, not a literal one, but an adventure nevertheless.
She told Guyana Times in an interview that she went on a research marathon for two years, trying to find the right information about how hair is grown and what ingredients enable healthy hair growth. Not only that, she wanted it all to be an organic process. She was fascinated with the way hair grew and the texture of hair from all races. 
“Well, it’s not so much of an overnight thought. But it was something that was deep inside of me for a long time. I always had this fascination with hair. I always love the way hair grew. And I couldn’t get my hands around how beautiful hair can be in any texture in any race,” Akeisha explained. 
She went on, “So I just started to dabble into a lot of research and I buried myself into research for two years. Our stuff is research-based and we test it on ourselves and our family members and close friends before we introduce ourselves to the public. So that is how it started, my love for hair.”
After being her own Guinea pig and posting her hair growth journey on Facebook using her own products, Akeisha said that many persons reached out to her asking what she was using that made her hair grow so fast. They were demanding what they thought was an international brand-name hair product. Little did they know that Akiesha was testing out her very own brand.
The secret? The ingredients she uses to make her products.
Sourcing
Most of the ingredients Akeisha uses in her products are imported from Ghana and other parts of Africa. This, she explained, is important in the making of her hair, skin, and other products. 
She said that based on the research she did for two years, she found out that the ingredients coming out of Ghana and other parts of Africa are rich in the necessary minerals that contribute to luscious and healthy hair growth.
“We do import most of our ingredients from Ghana and other parts of Africa. And we do have some local vendors that supply us with ingredients like jars on Garnett Street and maybe we will go and buy some shea butter or mango butter right in our city mall in Guyana. So, we do have some of our ingredients right here,” she said.
“But most of our ingredients we shipped from Ghana and other parts of Africa because we need that, the right original product or ingredient from where it’s actually coming from, right from where it’s like originated from.”
Like any smart businesswoman, she did not disclose those ingredients.
“It’s highly important to me because the research base proves it’s statistically proved that the ingredients from those regions are actually working, so we actually want the best for our customers, we wouldn’t mind going 100 miles to get the right ingredients to make our products work because we want working products so we can continue to get customers and our business can be a reputable one,” she said about the importance of sourcing the ingredients from Ghana.
Support system
At just 21 years old, Akeisha has accomplished a lot. She’s a mother, a wife, a business owner, and a third-year International Relations student at the University of Guyana. She has to balance multiple parts of her life while maintaining her growing business which is slowly demanding most of her attention.
Her support system, which consists of her mother and her husband, is the most important thing to her and they are what enables her to focus on the business and her studies.
Finding time for her daughter is one of her biggest challenges.
“One of my main challenges is the fact that I have a little daughter, she’s two years old, and I’m studying in the university and I’m managing a business. So sometimes it’s hard when I have to manage her needs. And I have to like schedule some time to make products and schedule some time to study because I want to pass my courses and I do want my business to function well,” she expressed.
She said that her mother – from whom she gets her entrepreneurial skills – babysits her two-year-old daughter when she’s busy making products, out making a delivery, or studying for an upcoming exam.
She said, “My mom is one of my biggest supporters. She helps me tremendously; I couldn’t ask for a better mom. Actually, I have her stored on my phone as ‘Best Mom’. So, she helps me with babysitting at all times, even me coming here. She’s looking after my daughter.”
Her husband plays his part too.
“My husband, after he comes home from work, he helps to make products as well on his days off so I have a support system that helps me around those challenges.”
Without the help of her mom and her husband, Akeisha doesn’t think she’d be able to maintain a balance between building her business, studying, motherhood, and being a wife.
“The support system, it’s like the lifeline to everything that’s going on in my life because without that support system I don’t think that I will be able to effectively handle or juggle these different circumstances or challenges that I face. So, with her being in my life, my mom being in my life and her being there to assist with my daughter and my husband, his financial capability to assist me in different areas of the business. That is something that I’m very grateful for. So, I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”
