Ego Iwegbu – Entrepreneur & CEO

BIO: 

A mathematics graduate of King’s College London, Ego always dreamt of starting her own business. Following graduation, she joined Ford Motor Company’s graduate recruitment  

program (her one and only corporate job) where she spent a few years before “escaping” to start her first beauty business on London’s busy Oxford Street. Developing the then new concept of easy, open-plan nail bars located right where you shop, Ego pitched the idea to big high-street brands such as Selfridges&Co and Topshop, securing  premium ground-floor space.  Ego went on to own and co-own 9 salons in the UK and South Africa, and  authored two books on salon business.

Realising the difficulty of scaling a service-based business, in 2016 Ego launched a proprietary cosmetics line  with her sister Natasha Iwegbu. Natasha had been hand formulating and testing a sublime super clean  foundation range since 2005. Having suffered from severe teenage and adult acne, Ego was passionate about  offering women confidence boosting beauty solutions that worked no matter what skin type or condition they  had. So under the brand name Ms London Natasha’s super clean formulations were enthusiastically launched in  the salons to thousands of women and rave reviews. As with all of Ego’s businesses the cosmetics brand grew  a cult following in Johannesburg attracting the attention of giant retailers in 2017 and a venture capital funding offer in 2020. 

The 2 salons and cosmetics line hit the $1.1 million turnover mark in 2018; the growth was so sudden that the  companies struggled with inadequate infrastructure around manufacture, logistics, salon management and  beauty counter management. A major learning curve for Ego through 2019 into 2020 when the pandemic hit  and temporarily closed the salons and counters. Forced to pivot and rethink the market Ego decided to use the  VC funding to grow the cosmetics line digitally and in a new market, the US. 

Together with Natasha and Enygma Ventures backing, Ego rebranded and re-packaged Ms London Cosmetics to  The Good Mineral launching in August 2021 online direct-to-consumer.  

As CEO, Ego‘s focus is strategy, sales, marketing and building the organization to scale The Good Mineral; all  while maintaining the South African based salons and cosmetics brand. 

An energetic, natural communicator and inspirational leader in her career so far, Ego has employed and  trained over 250 women. Written for Professional Beauty and Scratch magazine. Been a Professional Beauty  Awards judge for 2 years. Been asked to speak at many entrepreneurial and women-focused events and  panels including WEConnect with Ernst & Young, The Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity  Association (SAVCA), Cosmo Hustle and many more. Featured in Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Grazia,  Modern Beauty and on the cover of Destiny Magazine. Ego is a fire starter and all about team spirit! Popular  with her friends and respected by her peers and employees, she is a born entrepreneur, mother and single parent of two outstanding boys.

Connect with Ego Iwegbu!

• Ego Instagram – @egoiwegbu 
• Ego Website – www.egoiwegbu.com 
• Ego Books on Amazon – Open Your Own Salon – The Right Way 
• Ego Books on Amazon – Kick Start Your Salon Into Profit 
• Ms London Cosmetics Instagram – @mslondonmakeup 
• Miss Salon London – Instagram – @misssalonSA 
• MSL Group – Website – www.misssalon.co.za

Links + THE GOOD MINERAL 

THE GOOD MINERAL is a range of super clean cosmetic powders – founded 

and formulated by two sisters with acne-prone sensitive skin, customers 

finally get to detox their makeup routines and experience lightweight, 

natural coverage that feels like nothing but looks like everything! With over 

50,000 face matches this is truly makeup that LOVES YOU BACK. We know it! 

• The Good Mineral Website – www.thegoodmineral.com 
• The Good Mineral Instagram – @thegoodmineral