Janet Oganah
Founder of Janet’s List
Janet Oganah / Photography by Teresa Fan Photography
Lightbulb moments often happen in the most ordinary situations, and for Janet Oganah, it was while buying lunch. As she made a beeline for a street-food brand that was on her radar, she realised she always went out of her way to support businesses owned by Black women and women of colour. It was then she had the idea for Janet’s List: a curated platform to help people discover, and buy from, brands by Black women and women of colour from the UK.
Janet’s decision to start her own business had actually been years in the making. She studied law at University, rather than something more creative. “I’m a typical immigrant,” she says. “Growing up in Nairobi, my family told me there are only four good careers in life: medicine, law, engineering or accountancy.” After six years and arguing for a living, she began to question if it was the life she wanted.
But being a barrister at a prestigious London chambers was hard to walk away from. So she took a two-year working sabbatical to try out as many different career paths as she could, from consulting for the NSPCC to working on digital projects.
Janet knew early on in her sabbatical that she wouldn’t return to law, but even after she’d had the idea for Janet’s List, she forced herself not to rush things. “I thought, there’s no point in approaching a brand if I’ve not actually bought the product, experienced the customer service and understood the founder,” she says. After carefully researching brands through events, exhibitions and markets, she launched Janet’s List in December 2017.
The shoppable site was just the starting point. Janet’s podcast Making Money Moves gives her community advice on setting up their own businesses or side hustles. Shoppers have also been able to experience Janet’s List IRL through the brand’s pop-up concept stores in London and Amsterdam. “I want Black women and women of colour to feel the stores are for them, because there are a lot of spaces where they do not feel comfortable,” she explains.
While Janet’s customers have always understood the need for Janet’s List, the stepping up of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 has brought it to mainstream attention. “Before some people didn’t think there was a problem and said Janet’s List shouldn’t focus on such a niche,” she says. “Now more people are aware of the additional hurdles that Black women and women of colour face.”
The shift has left Janet feeling conflicted. “I’m glad that everyone is paying attention to this issue now,” she says. “But I find it tough that this had to come from such a tragic situation and we all had to be in lockdown for that to happen.”
As well as experiencing an uptick in followers and media attention, this year Janet’s List worked with the Women of the World Festival at the Southbank Centre to create its first virtual marketplace. She also has more concept stores and strategic retail partnerships in the pipeline, including an upcoming collaboration with luxury lingerie brand Coco De Mer. And with both her business and happiness soaring, her parents have finally forgiven the career change.
Interview by Kate Hollowood
