Two Australian beauty entrepeneurs have been given “the opportunity of a lifetime” to participate in Sephora’s fourth annual Accelerate program.
The two women, Pip Summerville, founder of The Tonik, and Maeva Heim, the founder of Bread Beauty Supply, will join 13 other women around the world in the “incubator-like business program”.
The Tonik is a natural supplements brand “bringing the convenience and benefits of natural health to the market via a fun approach” while Bread Beauty Supply is “a hair care brand that is determined to better serve young women of colour with natural curly and coily hair”.
The other founders taking part in this year’s Accelerate include:
- Julie Corbett, from Ecologic (US), which has developed the world’s first paper bottle made from recycled cardboard.
- Nicole Chau, from La Luer (US), which has created a non-invasive at-home facial device that delivers a standard facial process that “detoxies, tones, lifts and infuses the skin with active ingredients”.
- Natasha Dhayagude , from Chinova Bioworks (Canada), which has launched a natural, clean-label preservative extracted from mushrooms for use in the beauty industry.
- Hélène Ségol, from Green Barbès (Europe), which has developed an on-demand ”micro-customisation’ approach that offers DIY all-natural skincare solutions.
- Elena Muñoz, from Polvos Magicos (Mexico), which has created an organic superfood-based skincare products using locally sourced ingredients native to Mexico.
According to Sephora, the talented and diverse group of female founders will receive access to Sephora leaders and industry experts, “to help them take the necessary steps to achieve their business objectives”.
Sephora Stands vice president Corrie Conrad says the program was launched in 2016 with the goal of growing the number of female founders within the beauty industry ‒ and to date all 31 Accelerate participants that have aimed to land in retail (including Sephora) have done so.
“We are proud of the community we’ve built so far, as we track toward our goal of supporting more than 50 women by the end of 2020.
“2019 cohort includes 15 dynamic women, our largest cohort to date… We could not be more excited to spur on their growth and to see what each can uniquely bring to the program.”
The 2019 Accelerate cohort will participate in programming dedicated to brand growth throughout the year including:
A one-week ‘boot camp’ with expert guidance from Sephora and program partners
- Personalised one-on-one mentoring for specific business challenges from Sephora leaders and beauty industry experts
- Access to monetary grants to support their business endeavors
- Sephora Accelerate Demo Day, where founders present their companies to industry experts, venture partners and senior Sephora leaders with the goal of future business growth, programming and networking.
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