One Of Africa’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs On Founding International Brand ‘Zuri Luxury Hair’

Gisèla Mudumbi Van Houcke is originally from the DRC and is the founder and managing director of Zuri Luxuri Ltd, a company specialized in providing top quality Hair extensions, Lace wigs, Hair Care products and Cosmetics products.

Gisèla started her primary education in Goma, in a school that was called Muzizi at the time. Afterwards she did her secondary education between Goma, Bukavu, and Kinshasa but also in London. She later studied British law in Cardiff, Great Britain and French law in Nantes, France. She is a lawyer, with a Bachelor’s degree in British law and a Bachelor’s degree in French law.

Gisèla founded Zuri Luxury Ltd in 2016, when she returned home in Congo. Gisèla had noticed a gap in the market for Hair Extensions and cosmetics, especially for people with dark complexions.

She was having trouble finding someone to apply her hair extensions or finding a store that specializes in selling it. She found this gap almost inconceivable and wasn’t the only one with this problem. People around her were always asking her to bring back extensions and cosmetics when she travelled. So she decided to create Zuri Luxury Ltd (Zuri means “excellent” in her native language Swahili).

Being in hair business, Gisèla feels the journey has been long but fulfilling also. “I am very satisfied with all the experience I have had so far. When I look at how we started by doing all our advertising on a Facebook page, organized deliveries all over Kinshasa, with no guarantee that customers would pay and where we are now, I am happy and proud of every little step my team and I have taken and what we have accomplished so far.”

“Don’t be afraid and take the risk! Many people have good ideas, but only those who dare to take the risk succeed; be passionate about what you do…”

Gisèla Mudumbi Van Houcke

Through Zuri Luxury Ltd, Gisèla wants to enhance and nurture African women’s beauty by providing top quality and personalized hair and beauty products from the factory directly to their clients.

Gisela’s innovative retail network across Africa has helped grow the company’s brand presence through physical shops, an online store, Facebook and Instagram. Zuri Luxury Ltd is currently found in DRCongo, Uganda and Rwanda with worldwide shipping as well.

Gisela’s sense of entrepreneurship and her innovations have earned her a feature on Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 aside from other numerous accolades and appearances.