Fode Dip creator of Fodé Naturals shares his business start-up with Blackstone LaunchPad
“Growing up in NYC, I was always surrounded by commercial buildings and advertisements of brands that were portrayed to be superior to other brands. This ultimately resulted in me trusting “name brands" over most other alternatives. Whether I was looking for food, clothes, or lotion—It was the brand name that ultimately won my attention.
This changed for me when I became more in tune with my background and culture. Coming from African descent, I learned the importance of nature in our lives and interdependence between humans and nature. This observation shifted my perspective in many ways; most importantly, my perspective as a consumer.
This shift resulted in me reading the ingredients of anything before I bought into it and resulted in me making my own alternatives to what's out there in the market. I began using shea butter and African black soap instead of baby lotion and dove. And when I wanted something better that I couldn’t find, I made it myself.
My best example of this is my hand-whipped shea butter. I began working on this product during my junior year of college and remember everyone asking me where I got it from. This ultimately made me start thinking about offering it to other people and later resulted in the birth of Fodé Naturals.
Since then I've been working on creating innovative goods that are all-natural and sustainable for everyday people, so they can have access to a better alternative to the artificial products that are already embedded in our minds as being “the best".”