Our Story
Ekome began with a question: what if business could do more than sell products?
The name itself carries the answer.
Ekome means “one” in Ga, the language of the Ga people of Ghana. It connects to the Ga expression Ekome Feemo—the idea of uniting, becoming one and working together in unity.
That principle sits at the heart of Ekome: individual progress becomes more powerful when it contributes to collective progress.
In 2009, while studying International Business Administration at Middlesex University, founder Nii Akwei (Reece Hayes) began looking more deeply at his identity—African, Caribbean, British-born and part of a wider diaspora.
At the time, he was transitioning from selling clothing to friends and fellow students to making and selling body washes using African black soap. What started as a small business idea soon became something bigger.
Selling at events brought Nii into the UK's growing natural hair movement. Encounters with figures such as Michelle Olorunda and her talk on The Science of Afro Hair, alongside influences including Chris Rock's Good Hair, Black economics and the study of African and diasporan history, began connecting the pieces.
Hair. Identity. Culture. Economics. Community.
Ekome was born from the belief that they were not separate.
More Than Hair & Beauty
Ekome was designed around a simple principle: commerce and community can grow together.
Businesses create jobs, develop skills and generate resources. They can also solve problems.
For Ekome, that meant helping people better understand and care for Afro-textured hair and melanin-rich skin, while celebrating natural African beauty in an industry where it had too often been overlooked.
It wasn't simply about what we put on our hair and skin.
It was about how we saw ourselves.
From Market Stalls to Accra
Ekome grew through market stalls, events and word of mouth, eventually supplying retailers and building a community of customers.
Then came a major step.
In 2013, Ekome opened its first physical shop in Osu, Accra.
The brand served people from all walks of life—from local professionals and tourists to public figures—turning an idea first drawn up in London into a working business in Ghana.
In 2019, Ekome Care Ltd was incorporated in the UK, with plans for retail and wholesale expansion. COVID-19 disrupted those plans, but not the vision.
The journey continued.
2021 — The Natural Hair and Body Shop opened in Ghana.
2024 — Neturu Labs Ltd was established, with product development under Neturu Cosmetics.
Today — Ekome is strengthening its ecommerce presence and preparing for its next chapter.
The Story Continues
More than fifteen years after the original idea, Ekome is returning to the philosophy that started it all:
Build something commercially strong. Solve real needs. Support our industry. Strengthen our community.
What began with black soap and market stalls is becoming something much bigger.
Our hair. Our skin. Our culture. Our community.
Ekome — One. Together.