TALKING BUSINESS


PHOTOS BY JANE RUSSELL PHOTOGRAPHY


FACTFILE: SHALOM LLOYD


BACKGROUND: “I was born in the eastern part of Nigeria and was very privileged because my parents were educated, entrepreneurs and forward thinkers. My father got a scholarship through the Commonwealth and I’m one of five children – the only daughter. I was a bit nerdy growing up. I’m a scientist and I love being a scientist. At the age of 15 I was studying Industrial Microbiology at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. A year later I got a scholarship to study in the Former Soviet Union. So, I found myself, at the age of 16, in a country where I didn’t know the language or anyone. Six years later I had a BSc and MSc in Pharmacy and a language under my belt.”


ON THE COMPANY: “It’s not easy as a start-up – all you have to play with is your equity. It’s taking risks, re-mortgaging your home and maxing out your credit cards because you believe in something.”


ON JOINING THE CHAMBER: “I joined MK Chamber completely out of selfishness. I needed resources that I didn’t have and I didn’t know what I didn’t know. The MK Chamber is like a library minefield of information – why wouldn’t you join? The Chamber is there to support us and help us grow as a business.”


Shalom Lloyd, founder of Naturally Tribal Skincare


DIT in Nigeria, in partnership with The British High


Commission in Lagos, are shortly putting on an event to launch Naturally Tribal Skincare products into the west African market and the company is beginning to make ripples in the United States of America too. But Shalom, who left a six-figure salary in September last


year to focus on Naturally Tribal Skincare full-time, is also keen to grow the business in Milton Keynes – the city she came to for love and settled in 12 years ago with husband David.


“Milton Keynes is perfect. I couldn’t have done this


without the other businesses here. The support in everything we do is phenomenal. “We want to grow our roots in Milton Keynes. It’s not


necessarily known for skincare and I like that we stand out. I’d like more investment to grow the company and scale up because we want to be a household name. I want to grow a business and make money but in doing that we are doing something amazing in parallel. I know I’m not leaving this world without leaving a footprint.”


JUNE/JULY 2019 inbusiness 13


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