Company Name: Wigs n’ Wraps
Founder: Zainab Ikpong 

EPICentre: Tell us more about yourself
Z: Hi my name is Zainab Ikpong, I’m a third-year student, going to my fourth year studying Political Science and Criminology at the University of Windsor. The name of my business is Wigs n’ Wraps and I’ll be selling wigs and African head wraps. I used to chemically relax my hair and I felt that my hair was suffering because of that, so I went natural. There’s also been a huge movement of women especially women of colour going natural and just appreciating the kinks and curls in their hair, so I found that I can contribute to that by making wigs so that women can maintain and protect their hair while still being able to wear styles that make them feel confident and beautiful and the same can be done with the wearing of the head wraps. By doing this a hope to promote the embracing of natural beauty and nurturing and taking care of one’s hair.

EPICentre: How did you hear about the RBC EPIC Founders Program?
Z: I heard about the RBC EPIC Founders Program from a friend, named Emanuel Igodan, he and his friend Han also did the program last year and they received a lot of information and knowledge from it and I was very excited to apply for this program and I was happy that I was able to make it in.

EPICentre: What skills do you hope to gain by the end of this program?
Z: I hope to learn more about what goes on behind closed doors in terms of starting and running a business, I hope to gain a lot of knowledge in that sense. I look forward to being mentored by someone who is very experienced in entrepreneurship, as well as the networking opportunities provided by this program. 

EPICentre: Where do you hope to see yourself at the end of this program?
Z: Well, since I’m going to my final year at the university, I hope that over this year I’ll have time to work on making sure that my business is ready to go, so by the time I graduate it’s something that I can get the ground running on and just kept going developing and expanding from there.

Click here to watch Zainab’s video