From Kitchen to Lab: How Arbre de Vie is Redefining Natural Beauty in Senegal
Senegal’s beauty market is estimated to reach USD1.5 billion by 20251and increasingly, natural beauty solutions are becoming a go-to option for the rising middle class, estimated at 26% of the population2. But for Laure Barry, the dynamic, Senegalese entrepreneur at the helm of Arbre de Vie Group, the hope is for natural remedies to become the first port of call for the beauty regimes for all African women.
Laure’s business bears the hallmark of a WIC Capital investee firm, as a female-led, growth -stage business, based in Senegal with strong potential for significant and scalable impact. Combining agro-food and cosmetics with a firm commitment to promoting Africa’s natural flora, Arbre de Vie Group brings together different brands, namely: Gold Essence (a premium line for cosmetic products), African Beauty Rituals (a range of cosmetic products inspired by generational heritage for mass-market consumers); Les Trésors d’Eden (a gourmet and herbal tea brand which also produces marinades) and Laboratoires Arbre de Vie (focused on training and white-labelling of other SMEs). At the heart of each brand is a common goal: to showcase and celebrate the richness of African plants, from hibiscus and peppermint to shea butter and the eponymous arbre de vie (tree of life: baobab).
Gender Lens Investing: A Change of Perspective
WIC Capital, a gender-lens investor, is driving real impact by tackling a major barrier faced by female-led businesses in Senegal access to finance. According to WIC, “43.9% of Senegalese women entrepreneurs who borrow money do so from their relatives and only 3.5% use financial institutions to access credit.” This gap highlights why many women’s enterprises struggle to grow beyond the informal stage.
For Laure, founder of Arbre de Vie, WIC Capital’s intervention marked a turning point. Initially self-financed, Laure began by “formulating creams and soaps in [her] bedroom,” but her business truly transformed after WIC’s involvement. Following a year-long due diligence process, Laure recalls, “They wanted to find out if what we were saying was true and if our products were worth investing in.”
The partnership went beyond financing. Laure chose to work with WIC because “They understand the challenges that women in Senegal and in Africa go through,” and she valued the fund’s hands-on technical support. Through WIC’s mentorship, Laure gained essential skills in “business management” and “financial management,” admitting that “They know the figures better than me!”
WIC Capital’s investment and capacity-building support have helped Laure grow her four beauty brands into structured, investment-ready businesses, creating jobs and elevating standards in Senegal’s beauty industry. The story illustrates WIC Capital’s wider impact—unlocking women’s entrepreneurial potential, strengthening financial inclusion, and driving sustainable economic growth.
Tangible Benefits: Financial and Technical
For WIC Capital, investing in companies which have the potential to scale and widely impact the community and the national economy, is critical. The fact that Gold Essence has gone from two employees at the outset to approximately 12 employees by the end of this year is a direct result of the investment. Laure recounts how “pre WIC’’, she was the one doing all the marketing, the sales, the production because as an entrepreneur, “you wear many caps’’, but since the approx. USD200,000 investment by WIC at the end of 2022, they are now ready to start hiring experts in these areas.
Other tangible changes that Laure points to, post the WIC investment, is in terms of corporate governance. Prior to the investment, the different brands of Arbre de Vie Group were in existence but only became harmonised under the umbrella of the group with the assistance of WIC in 2021. This was also the precursor to the establishment of a board, which has really been a gamechanger because “we now have structure…[and] people we are accountable to…. and can rely on”, Laure explains. Indeed, the corporate governance that WIC has provided not only affords structure, but also quality. “We have people on our board who have great experience, who have managed big companies…we have someone who runs one of the biggest pharmacies in Senegal on our board’’ and this level of experience and exposure has been “priceless’’.
WIC’s financial support, as important as the technical support, Laure emphasises, has been pivotal. One of the major changes as a result of the capital injection was the transformation of the company’s lab. “Beforehand, we were using one room but through WIC we were able to build a real lab…with a clean room’’, built to international standards. She continues, “Beforehand we had manual machines” which are now in “the museum”, she giggles. Now, most of their machines are automatic. The financial support has meant that the company’s aesthetics are now far more professional than before. For instance, they now have the means to be more responsive to client queries and the packaging of their products is much more fitting, to the extent that customers ask, “Is this product made in Senegal?’’ Laure laughs at the fact that she thought her packaging before the investment was good but one of the many things she’s appreciated in the relationship with WIC, is the honest feedback she receives. “Having people who tell you the truth and help you to do better’’ is critical. “They tell you not what you want to hear but what you need to hear’’.
As a social enterprise, Arbre de Vie Group’s mission-first orientation comes across very strongly, aligning with WIC Capital’s ethos of impact. The Laboratoire Arbre de Vie for instance, is evolving into a center of excellence in Senegal’s cosmetics industry. It not only manufactures the group’s products but also offers technical training to local entrepreneurs, many of whom had been informally copying online recipes without understanding safety standards. “We noticed that more than 90% of Senegalese cosmetic businesses don’t fully understand the science behind their products. That limits their growth and poses risks to consumers,” she explains.
The company’s mission to actively educate both consumers and producers, advocating for safe and effective natural beauty alternatives, is well aligned with WIC Capital’s emphasis on significantly impacting the national economy. Research points to over 50% of women in Dakar resorting to skin bleaching products3. “It’s a major health crisis here,” Laure says, referencing dermatologists who link 100% of local skin cancer cases to bleaching products. Arbre de Vie Group is actively working to combat this issue by educating both consumers and producers, advocating for safe, effective, and natural skincare alternatives.
On the Horizon
Arbre de Vie Group currently distributes its products through pharmacies, supermarkets, and direct-to-consumer channels. The company prioritises natural, high-quality ingredients, many of which are seasonal and locally sourced such as peppermint, which becomes scarce during the rainy season, and shea butter from southern Senegal.
Looking ahead, the goal is to scale across Africa before expanding to international markets. “Africa is our first market,” the founder emphasises. “It’s actually easier to ship to Europe or the U.S. than within Africa, but we’re working to change that.”
She hopes to make Gold Essence the first ISO 22716-certified cosmetics lab in Senegal, a step that will unlock broader regional and global opportunities.
Today, Gold Essence employs six people and plans to recruit five more by year’s end. It is also working with a consultant to implement a centralized ERP system to manage inventory, CRM, and accounting. A CFA 16 million grant from the government and support from ADEF PME have also helped digitalise operations and support community outreach.
But for all the progress, the founder says the greatest barrier remains market access. “We’re getting the technical support, but we need more help connecting with the right distributors and partners—both locally and abroad.”
Still, the vision remains bold: with the foundation built through WIC Capital’s catalytic investment, to become West Africa’s leading brand for safe, natural, and effective beauty products, built on African knowledge, ingredients, and resilience. Through its platforms and training, the company is helping reshape Senegalese beauty standards—pushing for a return to ancestral wisdom and respect for local flora.