Former St Neots nurse launches online haircare business in lockdown
Intensive care nurse Maleka from St Neots has launched her own business in lockdown. - Credit: Lovemeafrohair Ltd
An intensive care nurse from St Neots has launched her own business in lockdown selling haircare products and accessories.
Maleka Harcharran, 36, set up Lovemeafrohair Ltd last summer after struggling to find affordable products for her hair type.
The business, which started out on eBay, sells products for textured afro hair and has seen hundreds of people get in touch.
The mum-of-one worked at Papworth Hospital, in Cambridge, until four years ago before becoming a university lecturer.
But her passion to help others and love of beauty has now made her a successful businesswoman too.
Maleka said: “I’ve always struggled with getting the right afro haircare products and would even travel as far as London to get my hair done.
“I had never run a business before, so I had no idea where to start, but I knew that I wanted to set something up that had an affordable cost for people.
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“I set it up on eBay as I thought that was a good platform.”
Maleka soon started to receive national media attention when Lovemeafrohair Ltd was promoted by eBay.
Then the online orders began to flood in.
“I’ve had customers as far as Devon get in touch who love the products and want advice on what would be best for them,” Maleka added.
“To get the right type of care for our hair can be really challenging and it’s having someone who understands too.”
Maleka’s day can start as early as 6am where she packages up goods to post out.
She sells everything ranging from hairbands, scrunchies, wigs, shampoo and hair masks.
She continued: “When my business started to get recognition after appearing in newspapers, I couldn’t believe the number of orders I had coming in so fast.
“There was about 1,000 people getting in touch and I was working 12-hour days to get the orders out.”
Since then, Maleka has launched her own website while still selling from eBay and Amazon.
“I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve received,” she added.
“It’s very rewarding to get messages of thanks from people that you’ve never met before.”
Visit https://lovemeafrohair.co.uk/ or the Facebook page Lovemeafrohair Ltd by Maleka.
