Jackie Aina nearly gave away a large portion of her business.
In an interview on the “Aspire with Emma Grede” podcast, Aina gave her husband, Denis Asamoah, his flowers. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the two co-founded fragrance brand FORVR MOOD in 2020. Asamoah has an investment banking background, and Aina acknowledged that his area of expertise has been an eye-opener.
Asamoah has also supported the brand by overseeing operations, team management, hiring, and strategic growth partnerships. On the podcast, she said he has played a key role in key strategic decisions, with one in particular ensuring the couple maintained equity in their brand, which has remained primarily bootstrapped.
“There was a time where I was going to give away a really big equity share of the business in exchange for working with someone at the time, because I didn’t understand what that really meant. And it was huge. It was, like, 40%,” Aina revealed. ‘I thought it was like, ‘Oh, well, if I work with them, is that not’… Denis was like, ‘Hell no.’ And then I was like, ‘OK, well, what would be more sensible, like, 20%?’ Then he was like, ‘OK, what’s 20% of $400 million? Do you think that’s worth what this person is doing for you currently?’ And I was like, ‘No, not really.'”
She continued, “This was before we started by the way. Before the brand existed, but I didn’t really understand what equity meant. I didn’t have a big understanding of what they were asking for. They were trying to sink their teeth into me, and he was just like, ‘No, it doesn’t work that way.’ And now these conversations, instead of them being like, ‘Should we talk about 20% equity?’ It’s more like, ‘.5%?’ ‘That sounds fair.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, OK. Yeah, all right.”
Aina said her husband’s advice has remained invaluable over the years and that she is grateful to be in business with him.
FORVR MOOD has made millions, as AFROTECH™ previously told you.
The company most recently relaunched its classics under the Candle Refresh collection FORVR MOOD. It includes scents such as JOMO, CAKED UP, and MATCHA BES-TEAS, priced at $48.
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FORVR MOOD can be found at Sephora stores in the U.S. and Canada, according to its Instagram page.
Aina aspires for FORVR MOOD to become a global brand.
