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Ruka
Premium hair extensions for black women
- 21-100 employees
- B2C
- Consumer Goods
- Beauty
- eCommerce
- Hackney, London, UK
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Company mission
To create hair and beauty solutions that truly work, by listening closely and making the outsiders our insiders.
67% female employees
Our take
RUKA was founded due to the lack of companies in the hair space that truly served and understood the needs of black women. Despite the huge demand, there were few multinational organisations meeting this market, so RUKA provides a direct-to-consumer hair extension service, bringing personalisation and choice to customers through a customised and curated shopping experience.
The word 'RUKA' means 'doing hair', and RUKA aims to embody this by creating beauty and hair solutions that really work, by listening closely to customers. It makes hair products with real textures in mind, having tested textures with its co-creator community.
Its products include clip-ins and ponytails in several styles, offering an online quiz for customers to discover their curl pattern and find out what products suit them best. Rather than just using broad categories like 'kinky' or 'coily', RUKA sells a wide variety of extensions to mimic real curl patterns.
In the future, RUKA aims to continue its growth and help more customers, while becoming the most ethical brand in the industry. Its partners have been verified for ethical working practices, while its entire manufacturing process is chemical free.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- Flexible hours and hybrid/remote working to help meet your lifestyle goals
- Dedicated fortnightly learning and development time plus a £1000 learning grant
- Additional sick leave allocation for people who menstruate
- 25 days of paid annual leave with option to take unpaid time off if you need it
- Competitive compensation and pension contribution plus generous equity option as an early employee
- A passionate core team excited to work collaboratively to build an incredible business addressing an underserved market
- Fun team perks including social events
- Free RUKA products and merchandise for you, plus family and friends discount
Leadership
Varaidzo Tendai Moyo
(CEO)Studied at LSE whilst co-founding at Educo then Strom Collection, and working as a consultant at Bain. In September 2020, they founded RUKA, and has served full-time as CEO since.
Ugo Agbai
(Co-Founder)Studied at Imperial College whilst co-founding Strom Collection, then working as a digital consultant at McKinsey & Co. They worked on RUKA part-time before joining full-time as COO in April 2021.
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Endorsements
All
Team energy (2)
Opportunities to learn (1)
Career progression (1)
Inspiring mission (1)
Strong leadership (1)
The energy within the Ruka team is unmatched. Everyone is so passionate and laser-focused while being super friendly and welcoming. Everyone brings their own experiences and expertise, which is always inspiring and when it comes to project collaboration there’s always a sense of openness, where every opinion is valued and there’s no such thing as a bad question.
Other Engineering
Team energy
Jun 2022
I previously worked at a digital agency before joining Ruka, so I was exposed to many new startups/product concepts, some good, some great. But Ruka was one of those rare concepts that make you stop. It immediately made sense, bringing true value to a completely underserved market. Ruka's inspirational mission is what brought me on this journey and the same mission that drives me today.
Other Engineering
Inspiring mission
Jun 2022
Ruka is a very early startup but has already achieved so much, thanks in part to its founder's leadership and ability to motivate the team to produce their best work. Tendai & Ugo are truly inspirational. They balance an immense pile of work and responsibilities with ease, while always finding time for everyone on the team, regardless of professional/personal context, and best of all are genuinely lovely people. Their collective skillsets cover a broad range, but communication and strategy are where they shine - and it shows!
Other Engineering
Strong leadership
Jun 2022
In the space of a few months I've been able to transition from starting as an intern to a new role within the community team. I've learnt so much already and have been provided with opportunities to help me enhance my skillset as well as being exposed to the key parts of the business, so early on.
Marketing
Opportunities to learn
May 2022
Career progression and personal development are really top of mind at Ruka. I have regular check in's with my manager where we have open conversations on my goals as how to get there. From the beginning I've been provided with opportunities to learn new skills as well as challenge myself.
Marketing
Career progression
May 2022
It's so great to be part of a team with an amazing culture and work ethic. Each day is different to the last and I'm constantly inspired by my teams ways of working and thinking. From the very beginning I felt comfortable to share my opinions and thoughts which have always been well received.
Marketing
Team energy
May 2022
