BeautyFeatures

Beautypreneur – Alali Hart speaks with Business of Fashion on Nigeria’s Multi Billion Dollar Beauty Industry

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In a city as dazzling and thoroughly hectic as Lagos, it’s fair to say that Montaigne Place appears like an oasis of calm in the urban storm. For wealthy Nigerians, it’s a place to shop for upmarket beauty products, get the latest treatments and be seen — or not be seen, as is the case for some of Alali Hart’s more discreet clients, who have been known to bring an entourage of twenty staff and rent out the entire facility to escape the prying eyes of other high-society matrons.⁠

The founder and CEO of this beauty retailer, wholesaler, and wellness spa has been in business since 1995, after a meeting in Paris with executives from Clarins led to a deal for Hart to represent the brand in the Nigerian market. Selective distribution channels were “pretty much non-existent” at the time, she says, so the only way to make the opportunity work was to build the #retail network herself. Today, Montaigne Place stocks over 80 global brands including marquee fragrances from Chanel, Armani, YSL, Lancôme and Bulgari and niche fragrances from Creed, Roja Parfum and Amouage. It exclusively distributes skincare and cosmetics giants such as Clarins and Yves Rocher. “Our offering also includes brands like Flori Roberts and two standalone Black Up boutiques in Lagos,” Hart says.⁠

 

Alali Hart is the founder and CEO of beauty retailer Montaigne Place.

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