It started with a scent.

Umu Ora didn’t start with a product.
It started with a scent. Or rather, a smell.

To set the scene for you, I was in Laikipia, staying in the most magical safari home with my godfather. Days would drift by with me lying beside a swimming pool hidden among trees, a plate of freshly cut fruit in hand, gazing up at endless skies stretching across the vast, untouched highlands of central Kenya. And always on the horizon, giraffes gliding slowly, almost weightlessly, like a mirage shimmering in the heat of an East African afternoon.

Time seemed to soften there, dissolving into the warmth of the air and the quiet hum of the landscape. But one unexpected moment ripped me from it all.

It began in a bathroom. The space was nothing short of extraordinary. The bathtub, encased in a fresco painting, was more like a plunge pool, and water fell from the ceiling like rain. Completely indulgent, completely transportive. But then I dropped in a bath bomb by a well-known Parisian brand, left waiting for me beside the tub. Within seconds, the entire room filled with the most overwhelming, synthetic fragrance. It was sharp, chemical, and suffocating. I was already very sensitive to artificial fragrance, but this was something else entirely.

I couldn’t even get into the bath. All I could think about was the smell seeping into my skin, sitting on my body, coating me in something that I didn’t understand. It all felt completely at odds with where I was. I had to empty the bath and open every window, but even still, the scent lingered. Eventually, I asked to move rooms. It was that intense!

Later, I gently asked the owner why she had chosen a Parisian perfume house for a home like this. Why bring something so distinctly European into a place that felt so deeply African? She said something that stayed with me: “There’s nothing that caters to the calibre of guests we have here.”

And that was the moment.

I had just finished an entrepreneurial programme at UCT, and I remember thinking very clearly: this is the gap. Africa offers one of the richest sensory experiences in the world: the smell of the bush after rain, wild herbs crushed underfoot, warm earth, smoke, resins, leaves, heat. Yet when it comes to products, none of that exists - especially in luxury spaces where everything is imported, creating a disconnected experience that feels entirely out of place.

I didn’t want to disrupt the experience of being in Africa; instead, I wanted to deepen it through something that resonates with me so much - the bathroom experience. Something that can be entirely transformed from function into micro-moments of joy. I wanted to create products and rituals that felt like they belonged there: scents that echoed the land; pure, raw, and traditionally grown ingredients that carried the seasons within them. Something that felt grounding, warm, and familiar, but elevated enough to sit anywhere in the world. I know instinctively that being natural, or African, shouldn’t mean being overlooked or under-designed.

That was the seed, but the idea didn’t fully form until I returned home.

I flew back to South Africa, and in a very small, almost insignificant twist, I misplaced my headphones. Instead of instantly replacing them, I leaned into thought. Every day, for about a week, I went on a series of walks - no podcasts, no music, often no phone at all - just long daily walks in complete silence. Without distraction, that’s when everything started to come together, and the idea really expanded...

Umu Ora is not simply a range of products; it’s a feeling and a way of moving through your day. It’s small daily rituals that can transform the way you feel. But the brand you see today is not the brand we started with. It has constantly evolved, much like nature does - becoming truer, sharper, stronger, and more honest with each chapter.

I’ve made every mistake you can imagine. I’ve changed label colours mid-print run. I’ve made decisions I wasn’t qualified to make. But in hindsight, I needed to go through this process. Now, Umu Ora is so much more than a bath and body product brand. It’s about designing how people move through their day: how they wake up, how they pause, how they wind down.

For me, it’s about designing transcendent experiences and sharing delicious formulations that make us feel nourished and well. It’s about building something rooted in Africa, but desired globally. It’s about working with farmers, with seasons, and with the land, and letting that be the foundation of everything we create.

One day, Umu Ora will extend far beyond where we are now, but I can still feel that original spark.

A bath I never got into.
A smell that didn’t belong.
And the quiet, stubborn thought that there must be a better way to do it.