Huddah Monroe, real names Alhuda Sonie Njoroge started to hustle early in life.
At only 18 year, she had already left her parents’ house to search for a better living. Things were never good at the parents. It was a household bossed by her stepfather, whom she describes as violent and beat her almost daily. Her step mother had little to do about the situation as she couldn’t oppose her husband.
When Huddah decided to leave home, her mother bought the idea and advised her to leave home in order to save herself from the violent stepfather. She left and started staying with relatives. She dabbled in several jobs in order to fend for herself and go through school, with the support of her darling mother.
Her first job was working as a secretary in an architecture company in Nairobi Kenya. She was fired from the job because she didn’t have the qualifications. She then started searching for jobs again, and was lucky to land roles as video vixen for various musicians.
From Grass to grace, she’s now an entrepreneur employing thousands of people
She later became a commercial model and this helped her gain fair prominence. Unbeknownst to her, this prepared her for life as an influencer.
Playing vixen and model helped her attract a social following on digital platforms, and it is through this that she has managed to build the brand as one of the most followed Kenyans.
In 2013, she was lucky to represent her country in the Big Brother Africa, a reality show. She rode on the exposure gained to establish different business ventures, and to build her personal brand.
Huddah is currently one of the most followed East Africans, boosting a following of over
2.2million. Her net worth is valued at over $5million.
Building Her Businesses
Huddah learned her way with money early on in life. From her first salary from the secretarial job, she knew she had to multiply it rather than waste it away.
She is always looking for opportunities to build her earning muscle, and it is this attitude that has fueled her to launch a string of businesses including; a fashion line under which she has a list of brands; body by Huddah, a lingerie brand, Rebel Nairobi and
Huddah Clothing which deals in Muslim wear.
She has also been able to turn her social media power into a business. She is currently the biggest social digital influencer in East Africa. A number of big brands collaborate with her to sell their products and services.
She has worked as a brand ambassador for several brands, including alcohol powerhouse, Luc Belaire, Brighten Mi among others.
Huddah also had her hand in real estate, she dabs in real estate consultancy through her company Huddah Luxury based in Dubai. She is also into farming in Kenya.
Her most known business venture currently is Huddah cosmetics, a luxury lipstick brand that is easily affordable, unlike others that are pricey. Launching the brand, Huddah says she saw a gap in the market.
“People ask me how I managed to make the brand a success, and I tell them, it is because I was able to bring into the market a product that complements the African skin. I have been a victim buying expensive make-up from Europe that don’t complement my skin colour as make-up should do,” she says.
Whereas many attribute the success of her brand to her popularity, Huddah thinks otherwise, “People don’t buy your product because you are famous. In this business, quality is everything. You can be Huddah, but if your product is not good, no one is going to purchase it. Huddah Cosmetics is doing well
because we brought a product that was previously lacking yet people needed it.”
Huddah says it was never easy to get formulas that cater for black people, because most manufacturers focused more on producing formulas for light skinned people.
Yet Huddah Cosmetics was started with much of its focus targeting the African market, the brand has greatly been embraced outside the continent and now has outlets in France, and other countries.
Huddah says they are now aiming at establishing outlets and partners at least across all continents and countries.
Huddah Cosmetics currently has over 10 lipstick shades, eye-shadow lines and make-up wipes under the line.
Breaking Limits
With the success of the Huddah Cosmetics brand, one would expect Huddah to sit back and put her feet up; instead, she is even getting hungrier. She wants to build her empire bigger. Not long ago, she
launched a new skin care brand, named, Rich Beauty LLC, in Dubai where she currently resides.
Huddah says she got tired of the comfort zone, she has enjoyed her life, travelled the world but now she says is now about work, and changing the lives of people, “You know, I started by posting my bikini pictures online because that is what I liked then. It gave me joy. But we all transform from caterpillars to butterflies. I drew the line somewhere and started focusing on serious things. I was tired of travelling the world doing nothing, so I sat back home to do something for the people. Now here we are, I am now occupied by what to do for the people, which product to launch next, and all that.”
