From Soul Notes to Bottom Lines:  

Why Culture Beats Diversity In Business

A Conversation with Haweya Mohamed and Ammin Youssouf of THE COLORS​

by Sadasia ~ Sept 2025

​In boardrooms and beauty aisles alike, “diversity” is often treated as a checkbox—a moral or social responsibility. But for Haweya Mohamed and Ammin Youssouf, co-founders of The Colors, that’s a mistake. Multiculturalism, they argue, is not a side initiative or an act of inclusion—it’s the engine driving growth, innovation, and cultural resonance across industries. And nowhere is this clearer than in beauty and fragrance.

Just as hip-hop transformed music and street art reshaped galleries, multicultural perspectives in fragrance are moving from the margins to the center. The failure of traditional diversity strategies hasn’t been about intent—it’s about misunderstanding the market. “If you understand our culture, if you know how to talk to us, if you know how to deliver the product, and if we can identify with brands and founders, your success is undeniable,” Ammin notes, pointing to LVMH’s work with creators like Virgil Abloh.

“We don’t spend time on advocacy,” Haweya adds. “We spend time studying our consumers and delivering the product that they need, with a deep focus on ecosystem building and strategy.”  Their approach signals a strategic shift: the goal isn’t just to be included—it’s to create invitation. Multicultural entrepreneurs aren’t asking to join; they’re building the tables themselves.

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From Tech Bridges to Fragrance Ecosystems

This approach didn’t begin in beauty. In 2016, the pair launched Afrobytes, a Paris-based platform connecting African tech entrepreneurs with global markets.

“At that time, if you were a founder in Nairobi,” Ammin recalls, “it was almost impossible to connect directly with an investor in San Francisco. We built Afrobytes to be that bridge—first across Africa, then between Africa and the rest of the world.”

That bridge-building spirit soon expanded into beauty and fragrance. Africa was—and remains—central to global supply chains, from Madagascan vanilla to Comorian ylang-ylang. African diasporas represent powerful consumer markets. And yet, African and multicultural voices were consistently excluded from the industry’s decision-making tables.

“That’s when we realized,” says Haweya, “we had to take what we learned from Afrobytes and apply it here. Beauty and fragrance aren’t just about formulas—they are cultural. They carry stories, rituals, identity. And too many of those stories were being erased.”

Thus, The Colors was born: a platform where multicultural perspectives aren’t an afterthought but the foundation of innovation, storytelling, and ecosystem-building.

Building Ecosystems, Not Seeking Inclusion

A defining feature of The Colors is their refusal to wait for permission to be included in existing structures. Instead, the co-founders are building ecosystems: workshops, accelerators, and labs where entrepreneurs, corporates, and investors collaborate as equals. “When you don’t see yourself in the room, you have two choices,” says Haweya. “You can keep asking for a seat—or you can build your own table. We chose the second.”

That philosophy underpins their upcoming New York gathering. Instead of panels and speeches, the event is designed as a working laboratory. Attendees—from ingredient suppliers in Madagascar to investors in New York—will co-create strategies on the spot.

“Conferences are nice,” Ammin says with a smile, “but we’re not interested in just talking. We want people rolling up their sleeves. That’s how ecosystems grow.”

The October 8th sessions reflect this hands-on philosophy:

● African Ingredients Deep Dive – Vanilla and pepper specialists demonstrating CO₂ extraction techniques.

● African Retail Tour Planning – Opportunities in Dakar and Abidjan.

● Formulation Innovation – New products for diverse hair and skin types.

● Sports and Beauty Integration – Exploring collaborations ahead of the LA 2028 Olympics.

The event also spotlights creators from The Colors Vanguard, their accelerator supporting multicultural perfumers whose journey goes beyond the traditional perfumery schools in Grasse, France.

At their core, these ecosystems recognize a fundamental truth: beauty and fragrance aren't just industries—they're cultural movements.

Soul Notes: A New Cultural Lexicon

Fragrance is not simply chemistry—it's culture. For Haweya and Ammin, the parallels to other cultural movements are undeniable: hip-hop emerged from resource constraints, sampling records when orchestras were inaccessible. Graffiti claimed city walls when galleries were closed. Both were dismissed at first, only to redefine mainstream culture.

This pattern of multicultural innovation is exactly what The Colors has crystallized in their concept of Soul Notes—a movement likened to Motown in music. Just as Motown transcended borders and generations while remaining rooted in Black cultural heritage, Soul Notes seeks to give fragrance that same universal resonance.

“Traditional perfumery schools recycle the same formulas,” says Ammin. “But when a Nigerian perfumer brings heritage ingredients, or when someone mixes rituals learned from their grandmother, you get something new. That's not exclusion. That's expansion.”

By embedding cultural heritage and multicultural identity into fragrance, they create a framework young people can relate to and carry forward. Accelerator programs like The Colors Vanguard actively nurture up-and-coming perfumers, giving children and young creators a clear message: you can shape culture and lead industries.

“Our goal is to show the next generation that they can be creators, not just consumers,” Haweya says. “When you see people who look like you building the world you want to live in, it changes everything.” It brings to mind novelist Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s famous 2009 Ted Talk, The Danger of a Single Story.

This trajectory---from dismissal to dominance---follows a predictable pattern: multicultural creators develop new forms of expression outside traditional institutions, eventually reshaping entire industries. The fragrance industry represents the next frontier for this cultural transformation.

AI Cannot Replicate Authentic Innovation

But the most compelling case for multicultural innovation lies in what artificial intelligence cannot replicate: authentic cultural heritage. As industries lean on AI for product development, fragrance faces a particular limitation. Algorithms can only remix documented history—and in perfumery, that archive is overwhelmingly Eurocentric.

“If you use AI to create a fragrance, it will copy what has been done,” Ammin explains. “The formulas that have been documented are typically White European formulas. The Black formulations are AI-proof for the moment, because we haven’t been able to contribute in the past.”

That gap creates opportunity. Multicultural perfumers, drawing on traditions never codified, are uniquely positioned to create true breakthroughs—not just iterations.

Ammin draws the analogy back to Motown: “If perfumery were to generate the same universe and enthusiasm that Motown did in its time, that would be perfect.”

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Why Early Bets Matter

For investors, the logic is straightforward. Multicultural consumers already shape global demand: they define what’s aspirational, what trends, and what sells.

That means two things:

1. Early bets matter. Just as fashion and music giants who once underestimated hip-hop missed out on billions, beauty and fragrance investors risk repeating history if they overlook multicultural founders.

2. Exits are inevitable. Large groups won’t reformulate; they’ll acquire. As they did in China, global beauty conglomerates will buy the brands that resonate most deeply with multicultural consumers. The question is: who’s funding them now?

Beyond “Diversity”

For The Colors, this is not about advocacy or inclusion. It's about reshaping the center of gravity in an industry overdue for transformation. “We don't want to be seen as a problem,” Haweya insists. “We want to be seen as an opportunity.”

That's the lesson for business at large: multiculturalism isn't an initiative—it's the market itself. The question isn't whether multiculturalism will reshape fragrance and beauty. It's whether traditional players will adapt quickly enough to remain relevant in a world where the majority is no longer asking for inclusion—they're extending invitations instead.

Want to learn more about The Colors' ecosystem-building work and upcoming New York workshop?

Secure your seat at: The Colors New York – October 8th 2025.
Take it further: showcase your brand while attending.
Position your company at the forefront of multicultural beauty: contact The Colors to become a sponsor.

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Photo by Tania Feghali.