As her hair thinned on the edges, Aqila Augusta started experimenting with chemicals in a kitchen to create a product to solve her problem.

Friends and family tried Augusta’s hair growth stimulant and encouraged her to begin selling the mixture.

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She resisted at first. “It wasn’t meant to be a business,” she said.

Augusta, already a licensed practical nurse, remained focused on her plan to become a registered nurse.

However, her desire to develop her hair-product business increased and she faced an important decision. She could either go all in on her nursing dream or enter the world of entrepreneurism.

Business won out over nursing.

In 2016, Augusta, now 31, founded Edge Entity, a Black-owned company specializing in hair growth products for women and men. In the five years since, she’s established a Bartlett storefront, located at 2958 Elmore Park Road. Her kitchen experiment has evolved into a multimillion-dollar business with customers from all over the world.

“When you walk away from your job when you start a business, you think about, ‘Wow, I’m leaving my security,’” Augusta said. “Maybe this might fail. I’m leaving behind a thing that’s certain … In nursing, you can always go back … I knew that. I wasn’t going to risk neglecting my business, something that could do way more (for me) than stay in my nursing career.”

Birth of her business

Augusta grew up in New Orleans. It was a life far different than now. On public housing and food stamps, Augusta said, “We were lower-class citizens.”

Following Hurricane Katrina, which permanently altered the city in 2005, Augusta and her family moved to Memphis. During her teenage years, she also developed entrepreneurial skills that foreshadowed her future, whether by selling chips, juices and even makeup to her friends and classmates.

Augusta later graduated from Cordova High School. Aspiring to become a nurse like her mom, she returned to New Orleans to complete courses to become an LPN.

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Five years later and back in Memphis, Augusta wanted to become a registered nurse, but did not pass the necessary courses. Also a new mother, she had to decide whether to push forward with Edge Entity.

While Edge Entity felt like the right choice for Augusta, that did not mean she didn’t have any challenges to overcome.

While she brought in $20,000 in sales her first month in business, Augusta made no profit because it was canceled by expenses to make the hair growth products.

She started turning a profit after raising the price of her products, and the business grew from there.

“This was the birth of my business,” Augusta said on Edge Entity. “I wasn’t born in Memphis, but my business was born in Memphis.”

Edge Entity

Originally created to help women with hair loss, Edge Entity expanded its offering for men.

In addition to hair growth stimulants, Edge Entity also offers vitamins as a preventive measure against hair loss. Augusta plans to expand the company’s products in 2021 through a new shampoo and conditioner and skin care line.

Augusta’s nursing career helps her understand why some customers are experiencing hair loss. She’s trained her staff of 11 employees to spot the same signs.

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“If a customer comes into my store and they take their hat off and I see breakage around the edges,” Augusta said. “Breakage around the middle of their hair and breakage in the back, I can probably tell you that you take thyroid or blood pressure medication and that’s the reason for your hair loss.”

Edge Entity has 30% of its customers from Europe and Australia. It also has fulfillment centers in the U.S. and United Kingdom. The business has more than 270,000 followers on Instagram.

Edge Entity also has a mission of encouraging people to appreciate their natural hair type.

“This is our place to show the world that Black is beautiful,” said Shayla Noil, Edge Entity’s social media manager. “No matter if your hair is short. No matter if your hair is curly, kinky. Doesn’t matter. Beautiful hair doesn’t have a type. Beautiful hair is beautiful hair.”

The past year has Augusta faced tragedy even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Her father died this past March. All of her employees tested positive for coronavirus at various points, though all eventually recovered.

Edge Entity closed during the initial Safer at Home order in March 2020. Even though it reopened, the lack of inventory delayed receiving raw materials for Edge Entity’s products, slowing its momentum.

Augusta remains confident she — and Edge Entity — will emerge stronger.

“It’s been a bit of struggle, but like any of business, we’re coming out of it, it’s just matter of toughing this out,” she said. “Finding a way like we’ve always done.”