Beyond the founder: Tara Fela-Durotoye’s Kigali lessons on building businesses that last

Nigerian beauty entrepreneur Tara Fela-Durotoye has brought her book launch to Kigali with a message aimed at founders, students and business owners who hope their work will last longer than they do. Fela-Durotoye is in Rwanda as part of a four-city East African tour marking the launch of her book, Building Beyond You. The tour began in Nairobi, moved to Kampala, landed in Kigali on Wednesday, July 22, and will conclude in Dar es Salaam. At the centre of it all is a simple question she returns to throughout the book and on stage: how do you build a business that can continue without you? ALSO READ: The book industry: An overlooked engine of job creation That idea, often called founder succession, means planning for a time when the person who started the business is no longer the one running it. In practical terms, it means putting systems, leaders and structures in place so the company does not depend on one person alone. Fela-Durotoye’s own story gives the idea weight. She founded House of Tara International at 20, starting the business from her living room while still an undergraduate law student. Over 27 years, she built what became Nigeria’s first makeup academy, its first indigenous makeup brand and first national chain of beauty stores. The company is now taught as a case study at Stanford Graduate School of Business, a teaching format universities use to examine how a business grew and the choices behind it. ALSO READ: Turning Agaciro into Africa’s pedagogical philosophy At the Kigali forum held to mark the book launch, called the Building Beyond You Forum, the room brought together the High Commissioner of Nigeria to Rwanda, leaders from the Private Sector Federation, founders, coaches and members of the press. The organiser, Cynthia Nyamai, chief executive officer of CN Communications, said she had watched the book’s reception in Nigeria and wanted East African audiences to hear the same message. “Movements are not defined by venues, they are defined by conviction,” Nyamai told The New Times. She also described Fela-Durotoye as someone whose discipline and consistency made her worth bringing to the region. ALSO READ: How Francine Munyaneza built a solar energy company According to the author, the book grew out of her own experience stepping back from a business that had long depended on her. In her view, success is not only about visibility or personal influence. It is about whether a company can keep going when the founder steps away. “Legacy is not makeup for me. Legacy is not beauty for me. Legacy is the impact of the lives that I developed, that I built in the institution,” she said. Her remarks in Kigali also pointed to a wider African business challenge. Many companies begin as small, founder-led operations, with decisions, customers and daily tasks concentrated in one person’s hands. That can work early on, but it becomes difficult to scale. ALSO READ: Who stands to benefit from Rwanda’s $100m SME fund? For Fela-Durotoye, the answer is to move from personality-led growth to system-led growth, where leadership is shared and the business can keep serving customers even if the founder is absent. That message resonated with some of the other speakers in the room. Josiane Nsanza, chief executive officer of Eprocomi Ltd and chairperson of PSF’s Industry Cluster, said she grew up around business conversations at the dinner table and learned early that the family company was being built with the next generation in mind. She described her own entry into the family firm as a gradual process, beginning with holiday work and later leading to leadership roles in the business. “Business was always part of the conversations that we had, no matter where we were,” she said. Looking back, she realised those conversations were preparing her for responsibilities she would later take on. “My parents were not simply running a business. They were preparing the next generation.” For Nsanza, preparing future leaders requires intentional effort rather than waiting for the right moment to hand over responsibility. “It is not waiting until someone is ready. It is preparing them before they even realise they are learning,” she said. She believes businesses that want to survive across generations must create environments where people can develop skills, understand the organisation’s purpose and gradually take ownership. Her journey into leadership also involved learning the business from the ground up. Nsanza chose to spend time understanding operations beyond management roles, including visiting processing facilities and learning how the business created value. That experience shaped her view that strong leaders must understand the people and processes behind an organisation. “Many people underestimate themselves. Many people underestimate others. Great leaders don’t,” she said. Nsanza said the goal of building a lasting company extends beyond protecting an entrepreneur’s name. She also pointed to the wider impact businesses can have through employment, skills development and opportunities for others. “Growth is not measured only by numbers,” she said. “Growth is measured by the people who grow alongside the business, the young professionals gaining experience, the communities benefiting from employment, the suppliers growing with us and the future leaders emerging within the organisation.” She also reflected on the challenges of stepping into leadership as a young woman. Taking over greater responsibilities came with uncertainty, she said, especially while working alongside people who had known her since childhood. “I was young. I was a woman,” she said, describing the experience as intimidating at first. Over time, she said, mentorship and opportunities to participate in leadership spaces helped her gain confidence. Nsanza credited Rwanda’s business environment for encouraging young entrepreneurs and women leaders to take on greater roles. She said the country’s focus on entrepreneurship has helped create opportunities for people who may previously have doubted their ability to lead. “It is a country that reminds us our age should never limit our ambition,” she said. About the author Tara Fela-Durotoye is the founder of House of Tara International, a Nigerian beauty company she launched from her living room at age 20. Her approach to building institutions beyond individual founders became the focus of her bestselling book, “Building Beyond You,” which explores leadership succession, business systems and creating organisations that continue growing across generations. A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Forbes-recognised business leader, Fela-Durotoye has been recognised among Forbes’ 20 Young Power Women in Africa and 50 Most Powerful Women in Africa. She is also listed among the Choiseul Institute’s Top 100 Young African Business Leaders and received the 2022 International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) Award. Her recognition extends beyond business, including Nigeria’s National Award of Excellence for Social Impact and Job Creation, presented by the Vice-President of Nigeria in 2019. With executive education from institutions including Lagos Business School, INSEAD, Yale, Stanford SEED and Harvard Kennedy School, Fela-Durotoye now focuses on entrepreneurship development through the Building Beyond You Institute and SEEP Africa, initiatives focused on strengthening leadership capacity and expanding economic opportunities across the continent. Building Beyond You now ranks among Africa’s best-selling books so far this year, with more than 20,000 copies sold on Amazon since its release in April.

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Beyond the founder: Tara Fela-Durotoye’s Kigali lessons on building businesses that last