After winning beauty pageants and going on to model for major brands, Hamanat Montia realized and appreciated the lifestyle she used to have, one far from her roots and full of superficialities. For this reason, she packed her bags and returned to the place where she grew up.
Hamanat Montia’s career promised great success, if by success we only think of living in a big city, having money and working with big brands. However, for Miss Ghana her personal fulfillment was far from all that.
She started her modeling career at a very young age, but soon after, she made a major leap in beauty pageants, and in 2006, she won the title of Miss Malaika, Miss Ghana. A year later, she competed in the Miss Universe Africa. Her beauty and presence opened many doors for her, but she had to leave her village and lead a different lifestyle.
Instagram @iamhamamat
After enjoying a life of greatness, the separation with her husband and father of her two daughters made her rethink that maybe she wasn’t in the right place. She began to suffer money problems. She no longer had enough to maintain the lifestyle they led, and in the face of that crisis, she decided to go back to the simple life.
She packed her things, took her daughters, and returned to her village in Ghana, away from that life of luxury that she once had and that had distanced her from her true origin.
Instagram @iamhamamat
While it wasn’t easy at first, her family started her off by bringing her food and helping her settle in and enjoy her new reality. On the other hand, those friends in the city didn’t support her. On the contrary, mockery and insults were present.
Hamanat wasn’t deterred by this and began to feel very inspired by the work her village was doing with shea butter, a local product with multiple health benefits. Thus, she began learning the craft of making artisanal shea butter and turning it into the main ingredient of her new business.
Instagram @iamhamamat
She soon patented the brand Hamanat African Beauty, which she already sells to all parts of the world. Every day, she receives hundreds of orders, and the success has earned her a place in an economic forum in Africa.
Instagram @iamhamamat
Thanks to her tireless quest to excel, brands are now contacting her to work with her, and she even opened the first shea butter museum, a space to relax and enjoy with the family.
What an inspiring story for entrepreneurs around the world.