Built for skin like ours, everywhere.
Niva is a skin guide made with and for people with melanin-rich skin.
Niva began with a friendship. Audrey and Natasha met at university, when Audrey, who did locs as a side hustle, went to do Natasha's. She became a client, then a best friend. Five years on, they still talk about everything, from sci-fi to everyday life, and, often, skin health.
Those conversations kept coming back to one thing: so much skincare advice sounds sure of itself and still misses on skin like ours. So they stopped waiting for someone else to build the answer and started building it themselves.
Today more than 1,000 people use Niva, and the community around it matters to us as much as the technology.
“To make understanding your skin simple, accurate and available to everyone, starting with skin like ours.”
What we stand for
Honest.
01No miracle promises. We tell you what we see and what we do not know.
Representative.
02Built with and for melanin-rich skin.
Respectful.
03Your scans and details are yours. We ask before we use them.
Together.
04Skincare is easier with people beside you.
The founders
Product & Engineering
Audrey Otieno, Co-founder and CEO
Audrey leads product and technology. She collected and labelled Niva's data, trained its models, and built the app and the marketplace. Before Niva, she was an assistant mobile instructor at Power Learn Project, where, in her early twenties, she guided a class of 200 students across Africa through to graduation.
Operations & Community
Natasha Kimani, Co-founder and COO
Natasha runs operations and partnerships. She built the structure Niva runs on, works with our brand partners, and planned and ran our first Skin Vision Board.
Niva is a product of Ivra Africa Limited.
Nairobi, Lower Hill Road, Upper Hill, Duplex Suites · P.O Box 75099, 00200 - City Square