Joanna K started as a makeup content creator. While still in university, she took her audience through makeup tutorials with demos. And later, all that birthed Joanna K Cosmetics, a Kenyan-based cosmetic line.
When Joanna launched her brand in December 2018, she wasn’t just adding another lipstick to the market. She was responding to a market gap she had identified. There were not enough Kenyan-owned makeup brands. Not enough products created for Africans, by Africans. So, she started small; today, the line includes lipsticks, glosses, lip oils, eyelashes, and more.
Her brand stands for boldness, for self-expression, and she likes to remind women that they are fierce.
Building the business
“In the early days, our orders came through Instagram”. Say Joanna K. The team and I would then reply with the prices, explain payments, ask for the delivery location, calculate the delivery fee, and get back to the clients with the full amount. By the time the product reached the client, there was so much back-and-forth.
To cut that, we built a website to give our customers and the team a simple shopping experience.
A game changer
The goal was clear, let customers choose what they want, pay instantly via M-PESA or card, and complete their order in minutes. When her developers introduced her to Pesapal, the shift began. It took a few months to implement. But once the website was live, everything changed. What used to take long threads of conversation now takes one to five minutes. For Joanna, it wasn’t only the technology, but also the support she got from Pesapal.
"From the beginning, I was assigned a dedicated contact, someone who understood my business and stayed consistent," says Joanna
As Joanna continues to expand her collection and push toward her vision of a full-face cosmetic line, she does so with a payments and business operations infrastructure that supports growth.
For her Business, There Is Pesapal
Joanna K Cosmetics is about expression, confidence, and boldness. Behind that bold lipstick is a founder who understands that customer experience does not end with the product. It includes how they order. How they pay and how quickly they receive their order.
