Anna Sousa decided to leave a "safe" job to invest in an area that has always been her true passion. Today, with three years in the market, Executive Nails is a reference brand when it comes to the treatment of "hands and feet".

On the prolongation of Avenida Marginal, for those who are heading downtown, next to the bambas, Executive Nails is installed, a wide and refined space, specialized in Manicure and Pedicure.

Already inside, design and architecture occupy us in the instant, the first look. "This is all really a product of my imagination. It's an inspiration of mine," the "nail" entrepreneur tells us, without holding back her smile.

And it all started from a dream that would very quickly become a reality. "I spent many years as an employee of other entities and decided to start up a business because it was my dream to have a space dedicated to hands and feet." says Anna Sousa, in an interview with MZNews.

And that is how Executive Nails was born in 2019. With quality, persistence, the business was developing and today, it is a true nail, hands and feet treatment space. "Yes, that is our true specialty, nails, hands and feet," the 41-year-old entrepreneur points out with satisfaction.

It currently has a client portfolio of over two hundred. "We offer services for all ages and genders," he says. "We have nail extension services with gel and acrylic, hand and foot treatment with paraffin and masks, mirror powder application and designs on the nail, broken nail repair, among other services," details the entrepreneur.

"For this treatment we use gel polish, regular polish, creams, oils, exfoliants, alcohol, and we use our own machine to remove the polish," he says. "This is an innovation in the way of nail removal," he adds.

Treatment time and price vary depending on the type of service requested. "Nails can take 30 minutes to two hours, because it depends on what the client is really going to do", she clarifies. "There are very natural clients who are going to have a simple manicure, which is something like 585 meticais", says the businesswoman.

But for a client who wants a more complete treatment, the price can reach 3 thousand meticais and a little bit.

The triumph of quality

Quality and professionalism have been one of the great secrets of success for any type of business. Anna Sousa knows this very well, and since the beginning it has always been her big bet (...) "Even before opening this space she went abroad to do some training, in Portugal (...) I already brought a bigger differential", says the entrepreneur, who left a "safe" job in a mining company to follow her dream.

"In all this, we insisted on betting on quality, comfort, always thinking that the person who is going to be here for one, two hours to do nails, could have this comfort, bringing the quality of service and all this. So we invested in several details, creating a structure to better serve the client," he adds.

Yes, "if I have a portfolio of clients today it is because they came after this quality," she says proudly. The raw material is acquired locally. "The only product I brought from abroad is the varnish. It is an Andreia K Mozambique varnish. It is very high quality and I am the official representative of the brand," she says with satisfaction.

With the market matching the "hands and feet" business was evolving. All rhyming with nail beauty, of course. Today "with my team we end up creating our own products. We create our own scrubs, soap, we create our own essences in the salon itself," she says.

"And this year I created my own brand, my own polish, with the texture, composition that is the Executive Nails polish," she says.

If at the beginning, three years ago, he had only eight workers, today, with the growth of the establishment he has 20. "My bet has been the ramification of the service. In other words, in other salons that are not nail salons, there is Executive Nails", she says.

"We have been working on partnerships. For example, if you have an aesthetic space that has to do more with skin, massages, and ask us to install the service there," he adds. With the development of the "hands and feet" business and the demand from clients, Sousa saw another opportunity to create a parallel service.

"Yes, I ended up introducing a catering service. That is, inside the salon you can have a juice, a sandwich, coffee, whatever you feel like eating, really," he says.

Establishing the brand and providing employment to many people has always been the dream of the entrepreneur and beyond.

"And of course as Executive Nails is trying to see if I can get the service into the province. I don't think we can only think in Maputo. I would very much like this to be done with a partnership, that is the challenge," she says.

While the partnership doesn't arrive, other solutions have to be found to make the products reach further afield. "Right now I have been sending my brand, my varnish to provinces.

I think that in the coming months you will see, Nampula, Beira are some of the points that we will have our products there. But the future is to really have service there," he reveals.

Anna Sousa's successful track record earned her a nomination as a representative of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Europe and Africa (AMEEA).

"It is a challenge, but I saw this as an added value for me and for all women entrepreneurs. I think that there are many women entrepreneurs abroad who would like to become entrepreneurs in Mozambique, and vice-versa. We need to actually learn from each other, I will create this cycle," she says.