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From ancestral rituals to global luxury, discover how the African fragrance industry is transforming into the continent’s next big cultural success
The 2020s have been a defining moment for the African continent. We have finally earned global recognition for our contributions to culture. In music, our artistes are no longer being given awards backstage or solely relegated to regional categories, as we saw Tems’ Burning earn a “Best R&B song” nomination at the 2025 Grammys. Films like “My Father’s Shadow” and “Eyimofe” have received global critical acclaim, with the former winning a Caméra d’Or Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival. A-Beauty (African beauty) is also having its moment in the sun, with reports that the Middle East and African beauty industry reached roughly $30 billion. But what do you know about the African fragrance industry, and can you name five brands off the top of your head?
Africa, the cradle of beauty, is home to thousands of raw materials that are an olfactory delight. Similar to A-beauty, A-fragrance refers to the perfume, essential oils, and incense originating in Africa. African traditions usually intertwine with the production of these items. These natural ingredients were often vital parts of wellness rituals, skincare, and celebratory activities.
Such olfactive treasures and ancestral customs have permeated global borders, for while the continental industry carves its own trajectory, the Western world has perpetually turned to Africa for the precious botanical ingredients that anchor fine perfumery. The high society perfume brands such as Memo Paris, Diptyque, and Maison Francis Kurkdjian have explored Madagascan vanilla, Moroccan cedar, Egyptian jasmine, and Tunisian orange blossom in their collections. Beyond that, Africa has always been an inspiration for the world’s biggest beauty companies; after all, one of Byredo’s best-selling fragrances is Bal d’Afrique, as Business of Fashion reports.
The question has never truly been if we can produce exceptional fragrances, as the art is not novel in Africa. But are we finally going to author our scents and formulations? And if we decide to do so, is there a market for it?
Read also: Tyla’s “A*POP” wants to reinvent African pop, but doesn’t quite go far enough
Is there a lucrative market for African fragrances?
Ella, founder of Wallflower Beauty, holding a Beguile perfume bottle via @beguilebyomaa on Instagram International brands like Byredo and Diptyque prove there is interest and an allure in African scents. However, once upon a time, the world’s best-selling perfume was produced in Africa. Less than 25 years ago, it was still reported as one of the highest-selling fragrances, with 11 million bottles per annum coming out of its Kano factory in Nigeria alone. Its cultural influence was compared to that of the Marilyn Monroe signature scent, “Chanel No.5”.
While it can be jokingly called the “only bare-breasted woman visible in northern Nigeria”, its actual name is Bint-El-Sudan, or the daughter of Sudan in English. There is a legend that Bint-El-Sudan was created when 14 Arab tribal chiefs met a man who would later create the formulae during his trip to Khartoum in Sudan. According to the story on Carrementbelle.com, the chiefs brought scented essences and asked him to make perfume out of them. The only problem is that the man in question, who created the perfume, is Eric Burgess, a British adventurer.
However, a new era has emerged, and Africans are finally carving out a place in the fragrance market. Brands like Réserve en Afrique (Senegal), Scent of Africa (Ghana), Niche Parfums (South Africa), and Seinde Signature (Nigeria) are dedicated to taking A-Fragrance to a global stage.
Paris Perfume Week featured Ghanaian brands like Maison Yusif and Scent of Africa in 2024. 2025 saw Yerwa Secrets partner with Harvard Business School for their goal to deliver 15,000 “discovery sets” across the globe, and Beguile cement itself as an IT girl scent. Also, West African heritage brand Ilé Olomu won the Art & Olfaction People’s Choice Award earlier this year.
What does the data tell you about African fragrance?
Onyeka Nwonah, Beauty and Fashion Strategist, provides insight into the current state of African fragrance in Nigeria. “Yes, there’s a market, and it’s growing fast, but it’s stratified.”
She explains the market as, “There’s a segment — upper-middle to high-income, Lagos-based, culturally plugged in — that is actively seeking Nigerian luxury goods as an identity statement. Wearing a Nigerian fragrance is increasingly a flex. That consumer shops at Temple Muse, follows Nigerian designers on Instagram, and is deeply invested in the narrative of ‘Nigeria can make world-class things.’ Then there’s a broader aspirational market that needs the brand to earn its luxury credibility first before they convert. The job for Beguile in the domestic market is to own the first segment completely — be the fragrance that those tastemakers are photographed with — so the aspiration filters down. Credibility built at the top moves product across the pyramid.”
Nwonah’s analysis that the industry is growing fast matches the statistics; according to Mordor Intelligence, the global fragrances and perfumes market size was estimated at $67.53 billion in 2024, expecting to reach $97.76 billion by 2029. Furthermore, within the African and MENA market, Mordor Intelligence states, “The Middle East and Africa flavour and fragrance market size is expected to grow from USD 2.20 billion in 2025 to USD 2.34 billion in 2026 and is forecast to reach USD 3.15 billion by 2031 at 6.16% CAGR over 2026-2031.”
A bar chart and data overview from 2021 to 2031, table by Mordor Intelligence. Additionally, deep Market Insights found that in 2025, “Nigeria represented 0.51% of the overall global Fragrance Market size.” While in 2024, Business of Fashion reported that “The South African fragrance market is expected to grow 7.6 per cent to reach $672 million, while the Kenyan, Angolan and Nigerian markets are all expected to grow this year, reaching a collective $183 million”
Scents and Sparkles Atelier candles via @scentsandsparkle_atelier However, Miss Eneh Phyona-Raphaela Kosisorchukwu, CEO of Scents and Sparkles atelier, a home spray, candles, and diffusers, observes that the interest goes beyond perfumes: “I’ve noticed that more Nigerians are beginning to appreciate home fragrances and see them as part of everyday luxury, not just something you buy for special occasions. Most of my customers are working professionals, homeowners, business owners, hotel guests, people buying gifts, and anyone who simply enjoys having their home smell beautiful.”
Read also: Gourmand fragrances that will have you smelling like your favourite sweet treat
Understanding the consumers and how to market African fragrances
A bottle of Ilé Olomu perfume via @ileolomu on Instagram “Our customers certainly include members of the African diaspora who find familiarity and connection in our scents. At the same time, we’re seeing people from Latin cultures, Europe, the Middle East, and many other backgrounds connect just as deeply. We’ve discovered that memory is a universal language. While our fragrances are rooted in West African heritage, the emotions they evoke transcend geography and culture,” Bawo Ijirigho, founder of Ilé Olomu, expressed. “The world is increasingly curious about African culture. It is an exciting time.”
While Nwonah says, “Two core [customer] profiles. The first is the Afropolitan luxury buyer — 28 to 42, Nigerian or West African diaspora, high disposable income, emotionally invested in African excellence as a brand value. They exist in Lagos, London, New York, Toronto, and Dubai. They buy luxury intentionally, and they want their purchases to mean something beyond the label. Beguile speaks directly to this person’s identity.”
Explaining further, she maintains, “The second profile is the global niche fragrance enthusiast — the person who already shops Byredo, Le Labo, Maison Margiela Replica, who is actively looking for their next discovery. They don’t need the African identity to sell them; they need quality, the story, and the distinction. Both segments require different entry points, but they’re not mutually exclusive — the right campaign can activate both simultaneously.”
Joy Akhigbe for Beguile perfume via @beguilebyomaa on Instagram Both Nwonah and Ijirigho’s demographics echo the sentiment made by Rubab Abdolla, a consultant at the research firm “Euromonitor”, to Business of Fashion: “In Africa, international brands are still considered a status symbol and as an aspirational purchase.”
Nevertheless, Onyeka Nwonah expresses that African brands have to market differently. “The trap most brands fall into is treating Africa as a mood board — reaching for savannah imagery, “ancient ritual” language, tribal print adjacent, which I would never say doesn’t work, but everyone has their preferences, but immediately codes the brand as regional curiosity rather than luxury.”
She explains that the reframe is specificity over symbol. “Beguile doesn’t sell ‘Africa,’ it sells a particular sensibility — the precision of the oud sourced from a specific place, the architecture of a scent that references Lagos at a specific hour, the intimacy of a founder with a singular nose and standpoint. Luxury is always specific. Hermès doesn’t sell “Europe.” Creed doesn’t sell “heritage.” They sell a very particular world. So we build Beguile’s world with that level of particularity — the materials, the story, the aesthetic vocabulary — and let the African identity be context, not costume. That’s what makes it a contemporary luxury.”
As Kosisorchukwu of Scents and Sparkles atelier puts it plainly, “Running an African fragrance brand is exciting, but definitely not easy. It’s about creating products that make people feel something the moment they walk into a space.”
Navigating the scent, memory, and heritage marketing of African fragrances
It is important to focus on the quality and production of a scent. While tying your brand to an African identity is tricky, we cannot ignore that, for many, fragrances are intertwined with heritage. Ijirigho of Ilé Olomu falls into this category, saying, “Our greatest distinction is that every fragrance begins with heritage.”
He explains that “Ilé Olomu is rooted in my family’s history, particularly the legacy of my great-granduncle, Chief Nana Olomu, an Itsekiri Chief from Koko in Delta State. That lineage gives every fragrance an authentic cultural foundation.”
“We create the scent of culture. Our fragrances become the olfactive expression of the same movement that has elevated African music, fashion, film, cuisine, and art around the world. Fragrance allows people to wear those stories, carry them, and create new memories of their own,” he expresses.
This idea that a scent can connect to a memory has been a fascinating study for years, with Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist at Brown University who studies the psychological science of smell, saying, “Smell can instantly trigger an emotional response along with a memory, and our emotional states have a strong effect on our physical well-being.”
The future is African fragrance, but do not forget it is digital too
Today, Africans are happy to associate themselves with all things African, creating a space to market A-Fragrance. It is a missing piece from the African beauty, art and craft global takeover.
Furthermore, Nwonah also notes that social media is vital: “For a luxury fragrance brand, social media operates on two tracks simultaneously. Awareness is the obvious one — Instagram and TikTok can put Beguile in front of a global audience overnight if the content is strong.”
She expresses, “But the more interesting function is legitimisation. When the right people are seen with the brand — editors, creative directors, cultural figures — social media turns that into social proof that money can’t directly buy. It accelerates trust. On the sales side, for a brand like Beguile that isn’t (yet) in every Sephora, social media is also the primary discovery-to-purchase pipeline. Someone sees a reel, goes to the page, taps the link in bio, buys. The friction between awareness and conversion has to be actively managed — strong visuals, a consistent content world, and frictionless DTC infrastructure working together. The risk with fragrance specifically is that you can’t smell through a screen, so storytelling has to do the sensory work. The content has to evoke the scent experience so effectively that the consumer feels like they already know what it smells like before they order.”
We have come a long way from the days when Africans, especially Nigerians, frowned upon wearing Made in Africa clothes, or when African beauty brands were treated with suspicion because we doubted the “quality”. The dawn of African Fragrance is bound to come, and as Bawo Ijirigho put it, “The world knows what African music sounds like. It knows what African food tastes like. It knows what African fashion looks like. But what does Africa smell like?”
Read more: The 2026 beauty go-to list: Makeup, skincare, and fragrances we’ll definitely be using this year
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