Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Courtesy of the Subjects. Starting a business has never been an easy feat, but add the factor of launching during a pandemic and global supply-chain crisis, and the challenges are almost tripled.
We spoke to a few business owners on what it was like to launch their business this year. All of them weren’t originally planned for 2021, but because of obstacles out of their control, they had to pivot. For Ambari Beauty founder Nisha Grewal, even after the original delays, there were more. Grewal knew she wanted to start a skin-care brand in late 2018 and started working on it in early 2019, a year before the pandemic hit.
“During quarantine I was trapped in an apartment trying to make this dream come true, going to bed and just picking up where I left off the next morning,” N’Diaye-Mbaye said. She also started building a team and by September 2020, she had three employees. She admits she was nervous and a bit insecure to launch while everyone was at home because no one was wearing makeup, but she remained hopeful that people would buy and she’s glad she followed her gut.
Even after launching a few months ago, Johnson is still dealing with customs issues and excessively long wait times for her customers post pre-orders. But starting her business this year is something she knows was worth it to wait out. Even if vacations may not be as common and people aren’t outside as much, her most popular styles were created this year and weren’t a part of the original launch last year.Canada-based Fumi Egbon knew she wanted to have a clothing brand for nearly a decade.