Christina Funke Tegbe grew up in a rich culture of Africa since her family shared African heritage.
She was inspired by the beauty rituals that her family followed. Her aunt in Nigeria sent tubs of Shea butter to her family in Texas, and that is when she fell in love with the richness of Shea butter and decided to convert it into 54 Thrones.
Christina always took pride in her roots, and despite having a master’s in healthcare administration and an MBA, Christina turned to her heritage and quit her consultancy job.
54 Thrones pays ode to the 54 countries standing in Africa, and the company has partnered with African corporates to create a range of clean body products that promote “trade, not aid.”
What Do They Make?
54 Thrones provides its customers a decadent and divine experience through its products like Glow Body Oil and Moroccan Body Mask. Their beauty butter is an award-winning product and the shining point of their company.
What Makes Them Unique?
54 Thrones aims to promote beauty, luxury, and the African land’s romance.
The body butters aim to provide maximum moisturization as they are quite different from water-based lotions. Where the water in these lotions draws out the natural moisture in your skin, Shea butter, as well as other botanical lotions, provides to seal the moisture into the skin.
Are They Still an Active Company?
54 Thrones has an active and running website and social media accounts. The product has also received several positive reviews on Amazon.
How Did the Shark Tank Pitch Go?
Christina Funke Tegbe made an appearance on Shark Tank seeking $250,000 for 10% of her company, 54 Thrones.
Christina explained how she used her love for African heritage and beauty culture and converted it into her company products. She provided the Sharks samples of her best-seller products.
She explained how her products are versatile and universal and can be used from hair to toe. Her beauty butters are the best-selling products and can be used on the hands and the whole body.
Robert commented that the body butter was really oily and that it was by design. Christina explained that her product used Shea butter, which was very different from water-based lotions. Shea butter helps lock in moisture into your skin, rather than drying out the natural skin moisture.
Mark wanted to know the business model and background of the company. Christina told them that she had a master’s in healthcare administration and an MBA and was working as a consultant. But then she quit doing all that when she naturally started feeling a pull towards her culture and heritage. She worked to learn her language and history. She took out her savings and traveled across Africa, and while she was there, she got inspired by the hardworking women who were making Shea butter, argan oils, and other products.
This made Christina want to tag along with them and start a brand involving every hard worker she met during her journey to Africa.
She had made half a million dollars in sales the previous year when she spent just $8000 on marketing.
The major source of the customer acquisition was word of mouth, and 54 Thrones was also featured on Oprah’s favorite things. Lori asked her about the sales before Oprah’s favorite things, and Christina replied that they had already hit $300,000 in revenue. Christiana also revealed that a lot of her sales were due to the wave of promoting and loving black-owned businesses.
Mark wanted to know if her business was sustainable, and Christina responded that she had many returning customers and a lot of people were also stocking up on their products, which made her hope that they were set to make a million dollars that year.
Her products were set to be launched in Sephora, online, in Canada, and the USA, and she was hoping to be expanded in Nordstrom in the following holiday season.
She was selling her products direct-to-consumer on her website, and last year her DTC percentage was almost 75%. This year, however, they were going to flip their percentages to 25% DTC.
Kevin asked her about the profit margins and whether it was enough to support the retail channel.
Robert was the first Shark to go out. He was really impressed with Christina’s business pitch and how she was taking her company forward but didn’t feel passionate enough to invest in it.
Mark also thought that everything she had presented to them was perfect from a business perspective. The only problem was that he couldn’t understand the purpose of these products, so he wouldn’t be able to come up with ways to take her business to the next level. He went out.
Kevin followed. He thought he couldn’t add any value to her brand except for money, as he wasn’t the right brand to represent these products. Christina persuaded him to share his genius advertising skills with her company, but Kevin was still not interested.
Lori had recently done a business deal with a couple of young women who came up with a cosmetic and skincare line. Christina was going to be strong competition for them, so Lori had to go out.
Nirav made her an offer. He was willing to give her half the money that she came seeking to the show if one of his fellow Sharks would team up with him.
Kevin said he would do $250K for 20% equity if Nirav wanted to team up with him. Christina countered with 15%. Kevin said that would give him just 7.5% stakes.
Nirav responded that he believed in Christina so much that he was willing to let Kevin take more equity while investing the same amount as him. Christina wasn’t willing to give up that much equity, but she countered with $250K in exchange for 17% stakes. The Sharks countered with 17.5%, 7.5% for Nirav, and 10% for Kevin. Christina agreed.
Our Review of 54 Thrones
54 Thrones body butter is made up of Shea butter that provides great nourishment and moisturization to your skin even with the application of small quantities of the product. However, it might require warming up the body butter tube between your palms, or else it gets tough to take the product out from the tube.
Pros of 54 Thrones
- The Shea body butter can be used on hands, cuticles, elbows, feet, or anywhere else you like
- The scent is mild and soothing
- The body butters are non-GMO and paraben free.
Cons of 54 Thrones
- The Shea butter tube might require heating between palms before squeezing it out, or the product doesn’t come out easily.
Who Is 54 Thrones For?
The Shea butter used in the products makes it possible to use just small quantities of the body butter or other moisturizing products, which will last a long time.
Are There Any Alternatives?
- Majestic Pure Shea Butter
- Vaseline Illuminate Me Body Butter
- Okay Smooth All Natural, Daily Skin Moisturizer For Skin & Hair, Shea Butter.
Our Final Thoughts:
Nirav’s belief in Christina and Kevin’s genius business skills are bound to take 54 Thrones to the next level in the pool of other competitive cosmetics and skincare brands.
