Grace Amey-Obeng is a prominent Ghanaian entrepreneur and the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Forever Clair group of companies dealing in beauty products.
Who is Grace Amey-Obeng?
Grace Amey-Obeng is the founder and CEO of Forever Clair group of companies. She held a major position in the Association of Ghana Industries, in November 2017, of which she was also an elected executive member. The Association of Ghana Industries is a non-governmental organization made up of various voluntary business associations with more than 1200 members all from large, medium and even small scale enterprises and as an entrepreneur, Grace served as their National Treasurer. She is also a board member and active participant in numerous organizations, including the British Association of Beauty Therapists & Cosmetologist and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).
Early Life
Grace was born in La Cote d’Ivoire in 1957 and moved to Ghana where she had her Secondary education at Keta Secondary School in the Volta Region of Ghana. After obtaining her Ordinary and Advanced level certificates, and in a bid to pursue an insatiable quest for knowledge in beauty therapy, she furthered her education at Croydon College in the United Kingdom where she had her Foundation and Intermediate programmes (Level 1 & 2) in Beauty Therapy. She then proceeded to the Profile Aesthetic Institute also in the UK for her Advanced Programme (Level 3).
While in the United States of America, Grace also studied Paramedic Aesthetics at the Aesthetic Research Institute in California and also pursued a certificate in Dermal Brasion, Electrolysis and Lymphatic Drainage at the Newlands Hospital in the UK. Persevering on, she still went on to the Sports Science Institute in South Africa where she undertook a course in Surgical Needling (Collagen & Botox Injection), all for an expert knowledge in the world of beauty.
Grace’s Career
After pursuing years of thorough research and training, Grace–who is now a first class entrepreneur–returned to Ghana in the 1980s to set up her first beauty clinic. At that time, it was not an easy venture for Grace who lacked the funds and necessary resources needed to launch the project, but with perseverance, determination, and massive support from her family, she pulled
through and the business she started years ago with as low as $100 (£63) now has an annual turnover of between $8m and $10m.
Her Group of Companies, known as Forever Clair (FC) includes a firm that supplies salon equipment and cosmetics, a beauty clinic for consultation and a college, which now has eight branches in Ghana and exports products to other countries like Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Switzerland and even the United Kingdom.
With the inception of FC, she is said to be the first Ghanaian Beauty Specialist to come out with her own new range of make-up and color cosmetics products which are specifically formulated for women of color, and which is also enjoying international patronage in Africa and Europe.
Another career path equally important to Grace is her role as a medical aesthetician. In an interview with the BBC series, African Dream, she said, “Nothing gives me more joy than seeing a skin condition resolved and I am so happy that God has given me the talent and that touch to heal people.”
Other Achievements
According to her, one of the things that makes her particularly proud is her Forever Clair (FC) Beauty College which, since its launch in 1999, has trained more than 5,000 young people, mostly women across Africa. The FC Group of Companies also includes FC Skin and Beauty Clinic, FC Beauty College, FC Cosmetics Industry, FC Perfumery and Cosmetics, Beauty Scope Magazine and SEBS Enterprise.
Grace is also the founder of the Grace Amey- Obeng Foundation International (GAOFI), a not-for-profit organization set up in 2007, to aid less privileged women in Africa and improve the quality of life for the vulnerable and child sex workers by helping them to learn trades in beauty therapy, cosmetology, dressmaking and other areas of their interest at the expense of her NGO. In a statement, she says “The joy of putting smiles on the faces of people that this business offers, that’s what makes me want to do it forever; Women leaders should offer a helping hand to less fortunate women, encourage them and share expertise.”
Grace Amey-Obeng’s Net Worth
Grace Amey-Obeng’s net worth is said to be placed at an estimated value of $100 million. She is one of the richest women in Ghana.
Awards and recognitions
Grace Amey-Obeng has received dozens of awards, accolades and business industry awards for her skincare and beauty marketing and products.
- Marketing Woman of the Year (2002)
- The International Biographical Center’s 21st Century Award for Achievement (2002) ● CIMG Marketing Woman Of The Year (2003)
- GAWE Awards by Ghana Association of Women Entrepreneurs (November 2003) ● Nobles International Award presented by West Africa Nobles Forum (November 2003) ● Silver Award for Technology (2003)
- Industrial Pinnacle Awards (2004)
- ACE Awards (2004)
- Ghana Woman Of The Year Honors, Excellence in Business (May, 2017)