When Demand Is Greater Than Your Supply with Freddie Harrel
This week meet the founder of Radswan, Freddie Harrel.
Freddie’s entrepreneurial journey began as a fashion and lifestyle influencer. A proud shapeshifter, hair is Freddie’s freest and earliest form of self-expression. But she struggled to find great afro hair products, and the market was both biased and constrained.
Seeking to solve this problem for herself, Freddie sought out a supplier in China who could help her to develop a better quality hair product. Not long afterwards, demand was high from Freddie’s online community - her followers wanted it too.
Freddie launched Big Hair No Care in 2017 and quickly experienced the downsides of high demand. Her supply chain couldn’t fulfil orders, and the business needed more resources to deliver the high quality, innovative products that Freddie was determined to bring to the community.
In 2019, Big Hair No Care rebranded to RadSwan and secured £1.5m of investment led by BBG Ventures with Female Founders Fund and Pritzker Private Capital, alongside high-profile industry angels. Recently relaunched, RadSawn is on a mission to disrupt and level up the $7bn black hair beauty market.
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“Building a business will definitely humble you... the personal and professional journey are very much one”
Raise The Bar Podcast - Episode 85
Guest - Freddie Harrel
Host - Frankie Cotton
Sound Editor - Beth Davison
Recording Date - 14th May 2021
