Black haircare founder scales across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop without VC backing. Egypt's 1.1 GWp hybrid solar project secures $150M from European Investment Bank | Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Three stories define infrastructure-building across Black entrepreneurship and African tech today.
Shaina Rainford, founder and CEO of Bask & Lather, was featured on Black Beauty Founders’ January 2026 cover, highlighting her bootstrap journey from a family-created scalp health solution in December 2020 to a diversified haircare brand thriving across direct-to-consumer, TikTok Shop, Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, and wholesale channels—without venture capital.
Egypt’s Obelisk solar project secured $150 million in EIB Global financing for Africa’s largest hybrid solar photovoltaic plant (1.1 GWp capacity + 100 MW/200 MWh battery storage), co-financed with African Development Bank, EBRD, and British International Investment.
And Hashgraph Ventures, an Abu Dhabi-regulated VC fund, pledged $1 million to the Hedera Africa Hackathon—bringing total investment commitments to $2 million (plus a $1M prize pool)—supporting 13,000 developers and 1,300 startups across 20+ African cities building Web3, AI, and deep-tech solutions.
Black Beauty Founders unveiled its January 2026 cover featuring Shaina Rainford, founder and CEO of Bask & Lather, a haircare brand built on operational discipline, platform diversification, and direct consumer engagement—without venture capital backing.
This marks Rainford’s debut on a magazine cover and examines her path from launching Bask & Lather in December 2020 as a family-created solution aimed at improving scalp health and addressing hair loss to building a multi-channel business model that operates across digital, social, and retail-adjacent spaces.
