"I wanted to become the CEO of a successful company and that’s exactly what I did"

At Ace we look for the best black business success stories, to celebrate, inspire and motivate you. Each week we will share an amazing story, about an entrepreneur from a diverse background.

This week we introduce you to Asmau Ahmed, the founder of Plum Perfect.

In 2014, Asmau Ahmed created Plum Perfect, a mobile application which enables you to use your selfie, in order to find products that match your skin tone in 60 seconds or less. This includes matching the tones of people of colour; who often struggle to match their foundation shade. The application also enables users to receive personalised makeup shade recommendations, for makeup used in YouTube cosmetic tutorials.

Asmau loved to experiment from an early age, transforming her home laundry rooms into science labs and reading her father's encyclopaedia to scope the new entries in technology.

Naturally, the entrepreneur went on to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia, after which she began a career in the field.

Aside from being an engineer, Asmau was a beauty enthusiast. She loved everything to do with makeup but found that there was a persistent issue she and many other women face. This was being able to identify their makeup shade in the shop aisles and finding products appropriate for their skin tone.

Years had passed and the problem persisted, so the entrepreneur took matters into her own hands. She decided to use technology, in order to tackle the issue that she knew many others were facing. By identifying a gap in the market and combining this with technology, Asmau created the patented technology underlying Plum Perfect, a visual search engine.

Asmau and her team spent over seven years analysing over 16 million colours and shade variances in order to create the shade-matching technology, that underlies the innovative application. In a world increasingly consumed with technology and photos, the app bridges the gap between makeup shade matching and technology to help consumers make more informed shopping decisions promptly.

Asmau continues to innovate the application to date. Now the technology is also able to inform customers of the details of other consumers who have been recommended the same product (such as, hair colour), in order to further enhance the user's understanding of what products are likely to suit their skin tone.

In an interview with Naira NYC Asmau says:

As of 2020, Plum Perfect reportedly has a revenue of $19m, and a presence in 150 countries. Asmau has also managed to raise more than $1m in VC funding, making her one of only 12 black women to have raised this amount. In total, the application has raised over $10m in investment so far.

Plum Perfect has also partnered with many brands, such as Refinery29 and InStyle.

Sometimes the key to identifying a gap in the market, is to reflect on your everyday life and identify an issue you feel as though you could fix, or improve upon. Maybe an idea already exists and you may find a more convenient and innovative way to tackle the task. No matter what, never be disheartened by the number of business ideas that exist, as an innovative mindset can help you to identify room for more.