I was born into the family of Sir/Lady Kris Mario Ugbong from Obudu in Cross River state. Upon the completion of my secondary school education, I gained admission into the University of Calabar in 2012 to study History and International studies, it was during this time that I developed an interest in and passion for beauty/fashion. I received professional training from House of Rubies Makeup School in 2014. After which I established Rina Brushes in Calabar, a mobile makeup business. In 2017/2018 I moved to Lokoja for the compulsory service year and during this time I held makeup training sessions for my fellow youth corps members.

At this point my business had gained a considerable amount of success. I had catered to the beauty needs of various brides and wedding guests, having worked on over 20 weddings. However I felt the need to expand my business, for me the first step to expanding was opening up a makeup studio. I moved to Abuja in 2018 and began working towards the expansion. In Abuja, I continued providing makeup services to clients while also working on setting up my studio. However I encountered some managerial and financial difficulties. At this point I felt it was necessary to undergo extensive training in business management. I stumbled upon an advert calling for applications for C4C’s Global Entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme. I applied and I was selected to be a part of the first batch of fellows to be admitted into the programme.

The various capacity building workshops and trainings provided by C4C opened my eyes to various modern business techniques that will be very useful while running and expanding my business. The programme also provided me with the opportunity to train with a highly established makeup establishment, Aday Makeup Muse. Also the rigorous trainings enabled me to more effectively articulate the investments required for my business and also determine my expected profit.

I am currently working with the C4C team on expanding my business to include a fully functional makeup studio. With this studio I will not only be able to deliver in-studio makeup services and for profit makeup training sessions but also contribute my quota to youth empowerment by offering free makeup training sessions to young women. I am proud to announce that I have been selected to be a part of the first 5 fellows that will be launching their business today.