Nigeria-born entrepreneur Ibukun Adewale has launched a year-long initiative through her skincare brand, Eleve Essentials, aimed at celebrating women who balance career, motherhood, and community leadership across continents.

The initiative, titled “The Eleven,” will run from February through December and will spotlight eleven women whose often-unseen labour sustains families, workplaces, and communities. The campaign reflects Adewale’s belief that care, particularly for women carrying multiple responsibilities, must be intentional rather than incidental.

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Adewale relocated from Lagos to Calgary, Canada, in 2018, facing the familiar immigrant challenge of building a new life without losing cultural identity. Instead of shedding her roots, she transformed them into a business vision, translating the botanical traditions of West Africa into premium skincare products formulated for Canada’s harsh climate.

Eleve Essentials, founded on this philosophy, blends African ingredients and techniques with modern formulation standards. While the products are manufactured in Calgary, their inspiration remains firmly rooted in West African botanical knowledge. Later this year, the brand plans to introduce a signature African Black Soap (Ose Dudu) line, bringing a traditional Nigerian staple to North American consumers.

By profession, Adewale works at a major Canadian energy firm, where she also serves as Co-Chair of the Black employee inclusion network, focusing on representation, equity, and grantmaking. Alongside this corporate role, she continues to develop Eleve Essentials, crafting botanical oils and whipped body soufflés. She views both paths as complementary, one addressing systemic care, the other offering personal restoration.

The brand’s origins trace back to 2015 in Anthony Village, Lagos, where Adewale began formulating skincare products at home in response to her husband’s skin sensitivity and her daughter’s sandfly scars. What started as a household solution gradually evolved into a refined craft and, eventually, a commercial brand.

Adewale’s emphasis on care as a practice rather than a performance is shaped by years of grassroots advocacy in Nigeria. She previously led initiatives such as Pad a Girl, which provided sanitary supplies to schoolgirls, and A Bar for A Bar, which donated hygiene products to families displaced by flooding. These experiences informed her belief that body care can be both practical and political, serving as a form of dignity preservation in demanding environments.

Through The Eleven initiative, Eleve Essentials is extending this philosophy by centering women whose work often goes unnoticed. Adewale describes the campaign as a deliberate pause, offering visibility and restoration to those who quietly support entire ecosystems.

More broadly, Eleve Essentials represents a model of cultural preservation through entrepreneurship. By embedding Nigerian heritage into a global brand, Adewale demonstrates that integration does not require erasure. Instead, she is building a future in which identity, care, and community remain central, no matter the geography.