Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
Hello, welcome to Roundtable where we serve up piping hot debates on the issues that sizzle in China and beyond.
If you look closely at global development today, you notice something.
Many of the Buddhist ideas aren't coming from boardrooms or think tanks, but from young people working on the ground.
Today, we continue our special series, Global South Next Generation Voices and Visions.
Let's enjoy the journey into the world of the young creative minds, where resourcefulness becomes innovation, where cultural exchange becomes power and where collaboration becomes a shared language across borders.
For this episode, I've got two young, successful business owners to share their stories.
Please enjoy.
Hello, welcome to Roundtable's special series Global South Next Generation Voices and Divisions.
This is a place for stories of innovation, action, and ambitions.
And we've got really great guests.
Some of them are entrepreneurs, some are activists, some are creators, others are leaders across the global south, sharing their struggles as well as their triumphs.
As for today, we've got amazing guests.
They are young people who are doing things differently.
Some of them are connecting beauty service with people in need.
The other is trying to or managing to make waste into sustainable solutions.
Let me introduce my guests.
Amos Kimani, founder and CEO of Taosi App, Harold Laborte, Founder and CEO of Capili.
Hello.
Hi.
Hi.
Welcome to the show.
Great to have both of you.
So we mentioned that both of you are entrepreneurs.
You're doing things differently. to be more direct.
You have your own business and you started your own business.
I think both of your businesses are very interesting and innovative.
So allow me to address this question to Amos.
Tell me about the company, the platform, the bridge you're building between beauty services and the customers.
So I was a musician between 2013 all the way to 2018.
Um, made amazing music for a while, but when COVID hit, um, we decided to stay in the house longer.
So there was no performances going outside.
I had an idea that was lingering in my mind for a while.
Every time I wanted to shoot a music video, shoot it in the desert, shoot it in the forest.
We always want to get beauty services on the go.
Something about doing your haircut when you're about to shoot a music video in the location.
I usually had dancers that were ladies, like 30 of them.
I would spend so much money on their makeup while on set, but finding an actual beautician to agree to come on set it was always hard.
So I decided, why not try the same thing I've seen with Uber?
Like you can get a driver systematically come into your house.
You don't even have to have conversations with them and they're going to drop you where you're going.
So I looked at the beauty industry.
They are more than drivers are.
And there's more beauty colleges than there's more driving schools, but there's no system for beauticians.
So I thought, why not copy paste the model for Uber and create the Uber of beautician?
I tried it, failed terribly because the system is not the same.
Um, I had to just go back now trying to do some research.
Um, spoke to different beauticians.
How would you want to do this online?
Is it better working at a physical salon or would you prefer being a freelance?
Is it cheaper?
And finally, we built a product that is curated by beauticians so it's easier for them to use.
And that's how we built Taosi up.
Taosi means peacock in Swahili.
Yeah, so it's a beautiful bird, So it represents the beauty aspect of things.
So Taosi is a beauty tech platform which leverages on AI now to connect quality beauticians to clients.
Wow, that is a great story.
And for you, you were inspired because you saw the need.
Yes. of your people.
By saying your people, I mean artists.
You were in the situation of needing the service and couldn't find it.
So that is kind of your motivation or inspiration.
And as for Harrod, because I know that for you, your company, you are turning human hair into some kind of renewable material, different types of products.
What was your first thought or what inspired you to do that?
So basically right after college, my career spans around revenue management.
So I make more money for the company.
So I used to work in airlines.
I grew the revenues.
Then I transferred to the hospitality.
I grew the revenues of the hotels, but I wasn't happy.
Even if it's so nice, even if it's so challenging trying to compete in the market and then grow millions or billions.
I've raised billions as well for the companies.
I wasn't happy because my contribution doesn't directly go to where it is needed which is the marginalized community or which are the marginalized communities?
So I decided, at the height of pandemic, I went back to my hometown and I decided to start my own business there.
So I'm not sure what kind of business should I start.
There are a lot, right?
You can start a restaurant, you can start a small shop.
But unfortunately, I don't know how to cook.
I just know how to eat.
But the good thing about that time was I got to see my manual when I was still in high school.
It's a science thesis in high school.
I was curious because my science thesis way back around 10 to 15 years ago was the study of human hair as a raw material for packaging.
So 10 years ago in our city, there was this banning, wide banning of plastics for commercial establishments.
So we were tasked to find an alternative to your cellophane or to your plastics or to your cartons.
And our human hair has a high tensile strength that if you try to break a strand of your hair, it's actually difficult.
So imagine felted or compiled hair.
So that's the kind of strength we have.
So fast forward to 2021 when I was deciding and I get to see my manual I was just curious what's currently happening with human hair.
I checked it online and I was so amazed because in other parts of the world they have done a lot already with human hair.
But in the Philippines or maybe in most of Southeast Asian countries.
When you talk about human hair, the first thing that comes into the mind of people is fashion, right?
Hair wigs, hair extensions.
But not many know that human hair in Europe, even in Africa, they've used it for agriculture.
They use human hair.
They mix it for construction.
They pick up something from here and use it for biomedical application.
So it was so fascinating that there's a lot of opportunities with human hair.
So I was inspired and that's how I came with Kapili.
How did you get the technology?
Oh, we got the machine from the U.S.
Matter of Trust.
It's a charity environmental organization.
So when I was actually searching online, I got into this page of the charity and I just messaged them that I want to upcycle human hair as well here in the Philippines.
And they gave me the technology for free.
You're worried about the technology?
I'm worried where he gets the hair from.
Yeah, where'd you get the hair?
We partner with different salons and barbershops.
So right now, we have almost 100 in the city.
Human hair.
What are the products you can make with human hair or your company?
Right now in the Philippines, what we launched so far, we convert human hair into adsorbent mats.
So these are emergency kits when there are spilled oils and chemicals.
At the same time, we use it for mulching material for your plants.
It's a bit complex, but it's interesting to understand that. actually salons will give you hair.
It's the ones that people have used after it's like after I shaved.
Yes.
Do you meet any challenges in your entrepreneurship?
Because the first thing I think of when you say you're using human hair to make sustainable product, I'm a bit worried because if I am walking in an exhibition and your booth is over there and I go pick up something,
And I say, oh, this is so beautiful and exquisite.
What is it made for?
And you tell me, human hair.
I might do that.
We get that reaction a lot.
But that's where the conversation starts.
And as your model is a social enterprise, aside from the impact that you make, it's really the advocacy that you carry.
So that's where the conversation starts.
You get to explain the different possibilities of human hair.
So the receiver or the listener get to have that kind of additional knowledge.
Well, for your business, definitely that would be one thing you need to deal with.
But for Amos I can think of if it's about bridging the makeup artist with the consumers.
Where do you find both of these group of people?
Where do you find the artists?
Where do you find people who are in need of beauty services?
So finding the artist is the easiest part.
Sometimes it even costs nothing, because even here, if I decided to scale to Guangzhou or Suzhou, the first thing I would do is do a master class in a space like this.
Find the top beautician around the area, maybe pay them for two hours masterclass.
Fellow beauticians are going to come see her doing her thing.
You onboard them while they're on set.
You go easily on Facebook, on social media.
You just onboard them.
You go to beauty colleges.
They give you the cohort of the people who have graduated, because schools are only interested in you for the learning bit.
They don't know what to do with you once you clear school.
So Tauksi tells them there's something we can do with them.
So finding beauticians is the easy part.
Finding the clients.
We dissected it into B2C model, which is business to clients, and then B2B model, which is business to business.
So B2C is where random people are going to log in on the app and request beauty services.
But B2B is where things get very interesting.
So we figured out the school that I went to was a boys school only, boarding school, so you stay in school for like three months and then go home for a month.
So we went inside.
We shave students inside the school compound because three months is a lot of hair and they only pay like two dollars.
We should put up a branch.
Yeah, so they pay like two dollars to be shaved inside the school, but it's paid part of the school fees, so it's b2b because the school pays you to shave everybody.
Then there's tours and travel.
If you're ever visiting, probably like a coastal region, the package of the company that's going to take you there going to charge you something extra.
You get your nails done inside the hotel room.
You get your massages done inside there, also in clubs as well.
Yes, i want to lay the ground first, because when i think of beauty services, i think of makeup and maybe styling of my hair, but it It seems like you're doing more than that.
Cosmetology, all of it.
Right?
All of it.
It's hair, makeup, nail tech, everything.
Burberry, styling, dreadlocks, everything.
That is a huge business.
Yes, yes.
So it's everything beauty.
So we figured out most of the revenue is going to come, even churches.
We do partnerships with churches.
So we know who's getting married in December right now because people announce it in church.
Then we get the cohorts and then we pitch to them.
We say, pastor told us to give you this package.
So that usually turns into revenue.
Corporate companies as well.
When there's customer service week, which is usually a big deal, corporate companies will pay for all their ladies to look amazing.
So that's B2B.
Even Uber lady drivers, Uber pays for them for a certain like Mother's Day period or Women's Day.
So we make most of our revenue on B2B.
That is, in my opinion, a really big business we're doing already.
Both of you are doing something that's either innovative or seems like an interruption to the entire industry.
You're changing the face of the industry, but you're both very young during the entire process of your entrepreneurship, of creating a business.
Have you met any challenges or more importantly, what are some helps you've got on your way?
Yeah, for me.
I think one of the challenges I've faced during my early stage was, in business, you don't necessarily expect to have revenues on your first few months uh, so it's kind of challenging.
At the same time, you get to experience a lot of people leaving you, especially those people that you really trust the most, like your close friends.
You get to have that kind of experience because when you start the business, of course the first thing that comes into a mind of a founder is you.
You co-found it with someone that's close to you, but not necessarily they have the same passion.
They just join you because they trusted you.
But along the way, it's kind of different when you start doing the business.
So I think the best thing that we can give advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is that try to look for co-founders who has aligned with their visions for you and for what you do.
Not only because they know you, not only because You are your friend, you are his friend or they trust you.
But it's more than that.
The business is not about you, it's about the advocacy, it's about the thing that you do.
So yeah, alignment of vision.
Now the biggest challenge we are having, because we've grown.
We have over 6000 beauticians in Nairobi alone, over 130000 beauticians in the whole entire country.
Um, over 32,000 clients, over 750,000 transactions done.
The biggest problem is the standardization of beauty services.
The fact that if you get beautician A and then you get beautician B, you're supposed to feel the same way.
The styling of whatever might be different, but how they treated you should be the same.
Because we focus more on not just ratings but the reviews is where the truth is, because the skill might be nice.
But how she behaved while giving you the skill is what really matters.
So we've been having to train beauticians on how to conduct themselves, how to conduct businesses.
We even found out freelance beauticians don't know how much money they make in a year because they just money in, money out, money in.
There's no ledger.
There's no one looking at their books.
So we've had to create the part on the app whereby they have their own ledgers.
So for every job they have done, they key it down.
At the end of the month, they can tell you they have made probably like $3,000.
Now we're going to start becoming a fintech a little bit by giving them loans that they can return based on how much money they're making.
It's better bookkeeping for beauticians as well.
The reason I'm asking about the challenges and the helps you can get we can talk about the help part of it later is that a lot of young people have the drive to start something, to start a business, to make something out of maybe just a great idea in their head and to generate profit and to help people to give back to the community.
And it is something very much encouraged.
Here in China, both nationally and regionally, there are different policies encouraging students, young students from college or just graduated to do that.
And we know, for instance, in 2022, we've got different policies encouraging the universities to implement flexible academic systems, meaning that if you want to pause school, get out, start a business for a while.
You can even go back to school when you feel like I've done my experiment or my business is on the right track.
I want to go back.
So that can happen.
And as for different places, I mean different regional places they would create incubators for young entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs to be.
They can go in there and get the training they need and these are all important help.
And even when I was in college, I think all of the universities they have different contests, like the ones you've just won yesterday, the kind of contest they're getting more and more competitive.
I mean, In my day I can really just go compete in the contest with a good business idea, business model.
But now I talk to some of my fellow students in the same school.
They're like it's been more than 10 years now.
They have to bring about a patent already or certain kind of technology to actually win the first prize.
So it's getting more and more competitive, very intense.
So that's why I was curious about the kind of help you got, because I know you got the technology free of charge because it's a NGO kind of organization.
And what about the kind of help that you think are worth mentioning during your way of creating your business?
One day i woke up and there was a pitch um accelerators that was wanted to help startups grow and they were investing a minimum round of a hundred thousand dollars.
So by the time i was pitching like this, you were saying it's not an idea anymore because it's generating income.
You just don't have the right infrastructure to make you scale.
So when i pitched um, we find we won.
We were given a hundred thousand dollars to actually build the tech, And I feel like that was one of the biggest help, because your valuation is almost zero.
So somebody giving you like um a hundred thousand dollars to actually build, that is the biggest milestone.
Um, okay.
We've done bigger milestones now, but I feel like still that is the biggest milestone, because somebody believed in you while you were still forming an idea.
Well here, I think in a lot of different provinces in China, you can have entrepreneurship guarantee loans if you are starting a business.
But I understand, because having loans is a bit different.
But you have to have a good credit score for that.
Yes, and also if you don't really make it, you still have to pay it back.
Even though the interest rate is, but I get it, the one that you just described.
It's not only a matter of money, it's also about trust and people.
Yeah, seeing something in your business.
But after establishing your business, after receiving the helps on the road, I'm very glad to see you are starting helping people as well, giving back to the society, to the community, especially to vulnerable group of people in need.
Correct.
Yeah.
So basically for us in Kapili, since we're on a social enterprise model, we work with unemployed women and mothers in the area.
So we provide them another livelihood.
So this cooperative that currently we're working with, they used to do seasonal cards.
They used to make seasonal cards.
They used to make... lamps from mulch papers, and then they send it to Germany or to Europe.
Unfortunately, because of pandemic, their activities halted.
So they didn't have any jobs at all.
This cooperative, a group of women and mothers.
So what we did is to offer them another skills, which is hair felting.
So it provided them an additional task and additional skill set that they can continue their group and they can earn an income to feed their families.
That's nice.
For us it's a bit different, but almost similar to what he's doing.
Because we realized most of our clients are women and we all remember how it felt trying to get your first job interview, how intense it is.
So we went back, selected.
We usually select women between the age of 18 to 24 years.
We do free makeup for you on your first job interview.
And we do business coaching for like 10 minutes on Zoom.
So you can feel more confident when you're walking in.
You already know how to begin for whatever the deal it is.
And you look amazing while doing it.
We are hoping they're going to remember and become clients once they start earning money.
But if they don't, at least we were there for them on their first journey to start the jobs.
What is the percentage?
How many people come back to you bit later.
We started last year um, so it's really i, i don't know.
Maybe they're still trying to figure out how to pay bills and stuff, so we're not in a hurry, but we have their phone numbers.
We usually give them still offers.
Even their basic bookings is still 20 off because we understand they're still not financially stable.
So we're holding their hand all the way until they wake up and decide to hold other people's hands as well.
Yes, and that is how a nice chain of help starts, exactly yes, and when it comes to starting a business, we understand in different places in different countries around the world, there are different ways to help the startups, because once you give them the first nudge, they need a little seed.
You plan.
Something very beautiful can grow out of it.
And you never know what would it be, especially for the younger generation.
Here in China, as the end of April 2025, there are 57 entrepreneurs or actually chairpersons under the age of 35 in A-share listed companies and accounting for slightly over 1 of the total.
They are making a lot of money with their business already.
They're very successful and achieving.
And looking back at the same period from 2018 to 2022, the number of young chairpersons in eight shares constantly exceeded 100.
So young people, they have a lot of potential.
So I want to ask do you think as a young person, when you're starting a business, what is your biggest strength?
Why are you making it?
I think it's because we are born dreamers.
We were born at a very, I'm a millennial.
Um, we were born in very diverse times.
I think you're a millennial too.
So we've seen four decades, but we are 30 years old, which is very weird.
We were born in between the internet and no internet.
We were born in between technology and no technology.
So we were, we are very curious because we are seeing things come up.
We've already seen pandemics, almost the world ending in between, like we've seen so many things.
So I even met I've met investors, founders from places like Iraq and Syria, which is very weird, considering probably you've not had startups in areas like those, but for us, as millennials, it's not very uncommon for us.
So The way our older people grew up is a bit different from how we were growing up.
So we feel like we are able to do anything to achieve anything.
So at first it's the delusional idea you have that you can actually make it.
And that's what keeps us going, because you've seen other people who have come from nothing, no degrees, and they're doing amazing things.
You've seen guys with degrees doing amazing things, and you've seen guys with degrees failing as well.
So you know, anything can happen anywhere.
That's what keeps you going.
So i think you have to be very crazy to just start something and just yes yeah, aside for the aside from the dreams, it's the passion.
Yeah uh, knowing what matters most and just learning uh, continuous learning.
What about the biggest disadvantages?
I mean, let me put it this way um, you've come so far.
You've seen a lot of hiccups, but also success and happy moments in your journey, creating your business and taking it to now.
Is there a moment that you reflect on your past experience and thinking huh, at that crossroad, if I had done it differently, it would be a different story.
Is there any so-called regrets?
I mean we say we make the best decision at the moment, that we could at that time.
But reflecting back, reflecting on the past, the choices, the decisions, any fun stories or any regrets you had,
I should have really been getting more information on more things like reading more books, listening to more podcasts earlier.
So every time I'm either driving to the office, I have to make sure I'm being inquired.
You're hungry all the time.
Because you're going to notice, as a founder, everybody has an opinion on what you should do.
Even you go on competitions, you're gonna be told change your pitch deck and then the same pitch deck.
You're gonna take it somewhere else gonna say this is an amazing pitch, correct.
So the opinions are too many.
You need to be somebody who makes um your own decisions, and for you to be able to make your own decisions, you have to be very well equipped in knowledge and stuff.
So i should have really started learning as early as possible.
That is the only thing I feel like I should have done differently.
For young people, we always feel like we want to do more.
We want to build our dreams.
But having the capability, having the knowledge, the skill, the information to make the right choice, to make the idea a reality, is also definitely something that you tend to neglect, especially when you're passionate, when you're in a hurry, you just really want to just go do it.
But you didn't know at that moment that you didn't have what it takes to actually do it.
And yes, that's a really good advice for everybody.
When we started the business, the first thing that we did with cash was to create a warehouse, but we didn't have the raw materials yet.
So it's just an empty house.
Yes, so basically it was empty for I think almost half a year.
So it was actually a waste, a sunk cost.
So again, regrets, but we learned from them.
Yes, we learned from our mistakes so that we can make better decisions for the future.
The future is definitely more important.
We think about what we do, and the visions would take us to the places that we should go.
And one thing, one factor, element that is so vital in today's day and age I think Amos mentioned it already is technology.
We have artificial intelligence developed to a state that we could never even imagined three, five years ago.
And now it's almost in every conversation, especially if we're talking about business.
Definitely, you're bringing things online.
You're making things mobile.
So is technology vital to both of your business?
For me, technology is vital in terms of getting the message out.
But the challenge there is that you're talking to communities that doesn't necessarily have the access to internet.
So not all barbershops have access to internet.
Not all barbers or salon workers have smartphones.
So technology doesn't fit in that context, unless you give them the phone or you establish an internet connection in their office, which is a bit costly.
Bring your business to China.
Almost all of us have access to internet, even in remote villages.
Yeah, but in the Philippines, it's kind of different as of the moment.
So technology is a bit hard to fit in from that kind of context.
But definitely when it comes to getting the message out or really onto the manufacturing side, it helps us because that's the competitive advantage for business right now.
Rather than felting human hair by hand, So you have machineries, the hardware, the hardware.
That's interesting for us.
It's very vital because beauty is visual.
So they got to see it before they use it.
So Instagram, social media really works for the tech that we've built physical spaces.
That's our biggest competitor.
Because i am a creative myself, helping other creatives, i don't see why you should be locking a beautician in four wall spaces in 2025 and you're expecting them to still create good content, good quality services.
There's tick tock now.
Everybody's on tick tock.
Let them go watch, see the services being offered.
Let them order the services.
People used to think services coming to you is only for the rich.
Now you get services delivered to you everywhere.
Food comes to you, cars come to you, beauty services can come to you as well.
So tech is a big vital aspect of our business.
And besides tech, human to human interaction and communication is also important, but it's not only for entrepreneurship, it's for any line of business.
So you talk to others.
Maybe you inspire each other in attending these kinds of international forums or masterclass and especially being able to talk to people all around the world, young people who are quite achieved in their own area.
How do you feel about the forum or the importance of Communicating with other fellow young leaders around the world?
I think it opens your eyes.
Last night I had a talk with someone from Those sides of Syria and Palestine and they're here.
So that's huge because it means the notion that you have is Your mind is blocked when you just stay at home and you just have your own circles.
Your daydream thinking ideas can just grow.
But once you interact with people and you understand what other people are doing, your mind kind of open up in different ways.
It's not just reading books, having interactions with him.
Next time I'm in Philippines, It's easier for me, number one, to interact with him in person, because it's a connection I've already made.
But also to understand how they are doing things there, gives you an idea of what you can go do back home, because people are the same.
It's just different geographical areas.
But we all have that need for connection.
Since the Stone Age era, human beings wanted to connect.
And the fact that we can connect and share the same connections they have that we don't have back at home.
You just go introduce it.
Very amazing concept.
Yes.
And for me, joining forums or joining pitches, it's more than the activity.
It's all about getting the message out.
Again, we're talking about human hair being used as a raw material.
No one cares about human hair.
Let's be honest.
When you go to salon, when you go to barbershop, you have your hair cut.
Do you ever wonder where that hair goes?
Honestly, right.
So it's basically being there, being able to share what you do.
It's more than the business that you carry, but it's about inspiring and informing others that hey, there is something valuable with that kind of waste and just a ripple of the impact or the word of mouth when it comes to sharing that kind of knowledge to others.
Yes, and to me as a podcaster, I definitely think communicating is very important and talking to people sharing different stories is important.
A final word to the fellow entrepreneur or entrepreneurs to be young people who wanted to start their own business but maybe didn't have the little push they need or didn't have the inspiration that you received in the early stage one last advice or word just even just encouraging sentences you want to say to them I would say do it scared and do it very fast fail very fast so that you figure out things Because if you keep waiting to create a perfect product, if you keep waiting to get perfect clients, it's going to take very long.
You're going to start doubting yourself.
So just do it scared.
Do it very fast and fail very fast.
That's the only way you succeed.
For me, similar to him, you can always think about the future, but it can always be now.
So you can always find mentors. who can guide you.
You can always be resourceful.
If you don't have any resources, there are a lot of opportunities out there who can help you build.
Like for us, we were able to get the technology because we became resourceful.
We get funding because there are a lot of opportunities as well from the government.
So be resourceful, don't be scared to start.
And as for me, after hearing these amazing stories from these two young entrepreneurs, I say Find the problems in your life and solve them with your creativity, with your purpose.
And maybe along the way, you would start something amazing as well.
You're listening to Roundtable.
That was a conversation between myself, Niu Honglin and Amos Kamani, founder of Taosi App, and Harold Laborte, founder of Capilli Trading.
