As beauty founders attempt to navigate an unpredictable economy and market uncertainty, early-stage entrepreneurs—particularly those from underrepresented communities, lacking resources, funding, and mentorship—usually feel the impact the hardest. Understanding these obstacles and taking them head-on, incubator Maesa created its Maesa Magic Incubator (MMI), an initiative that accepts only early-stage entrepreneurs into its program, with brands that have generated sales of under $1M to date.
In a webcast moderated by BeautyMatter co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Kelly Kovack, and joined by Maesa Chief Executive Officer Piyush Jain, Maesa Chief Brand + Marketing Officer Oshiya Savur, and current alumni of the program Jadis Montijo of Motivo Scar Care and Aziza El Wanni of The Potion Studio, the webinar gave the audience an inside look into the MMI program. What does it take to become an MMI recipient? What is the review process? What will recipients gain from the program?
Origin Story
Launched in 2023 to celebrate Maesa’s 25th anniversary, the beauty incubator created its MMI program to honor its entrepreneurial roots by providing early-phase founders from underrepresented communities $35K of non-dilutive funding, strategic support, and hands-on mentoring.
Over the past 27 years, Maesa has grown and steadily become a top 100 beauty company, according to Jain, who feels what differentiates the company from other incubators is its ability to understand consumers’ wants and needs and create distinct solutions for them. “Beauty is a difficult business,” Jain explained. “It's a category where consumer needs are constantly changing, and therefore, understanding what consumers are saying, where they are going [shopping], and staying ahead of the curve, really sets the winners apart.”
Understanding the consumer is only half the battle in growing a successful brand. Recognizing that underrepresented early-stage entrepreneurs often face higher barriers than others, including a lack of mentorship and a limited understanding of the operational aspects of growing a business, Maesa created its MMI to remove these barriers and help new founders successfully grow their brands.
When developing the MMI, Jain spoke with founders to understand how they approached creating their businesses, what strategies worked for them, and what factors contributed to their success. Overall, the feedback Jain got was that founders appreciated the advice and support they received at the inception of their brand journey, the hands-on training, and the opportunity to discuss their ideas with others in the industry.
“So, we looked at how can we pay it forward from our legacy? We realized that founders from underrepresented communities, in particular, often lack access to these resources, and the statistics are very telling,” Jain said. “How many founders from underrepresented communities actually go on to make their vision a success? It's not because these founders don't have vision. They have fabulous vision. You see Jadis and Aziza with massive, big ideas, and if we can play a small role in their journey to bring their idea to life and give it wings—that’s the objective behind the Maesa Magic Incubator.”
Since launching the MMI, the program has graduated six entrepreneurs and awarded more than $200K in non-dilutive funding.
Mind the Gap
Maesa identified a clear gap in how founders from underserved communities access the support and funding they need to successfully start a business. “We found that only 3% of VC funding was going towards underserved founders, and within 18 months, eight out of 10 of BIPOC businesses would fail,” said Savur. “And one of the main reasons they would fail was because of [a lack of] mentorship.”
Recognizing the gap that early-stage founders experience, Savur aimed to create a program that actually identifies the true needs of the entrepreneur, “because everyone has their own superpowers, right? And they may need different types of help. And whatever help they need, we have C-suite members who are experts and can provide mentorship.”
One obstacle that almost all early-stage entrepreneurs face is that, to secure the funding they need, they must prove they have traction. And to prove they have traction, they need funding. “At that point in time, nobody wants to give you money, right? And that is the most critical time when businesses fail,” Savur explained. “So that's why we wanted to give that non-dilutive funding at that point and because we don't want to exploit this early stage with the founders.”
Kovack noted that regardless of where a founder is in their journey, they always need a helping hand along the way. “I think your [Maesa] approach and having a business that's 27 years old reinforces long-term thinking about how businesses are built.” In the past ten years, many businesses have mistakenly focused on the short-term, “where a billion-dollar check was going to land in their lap miraculously. And those are anomalies, as we all know,” said Kovack.
The Program
Recipients of the MMI begin with four weeks of lecture-based mentorship programs led by leadership team members. During this time, Savur meets with each recipient one-on-one every other week to help them decide where to focus.
The next component is like business school, when senior management helps the recipients choose their biggest opportunity (like a major). For the next six weeks, recipients delve into these focused topics. “And then we have a lot of in-person programs, like taking our entrepreneurs to Harvard Business School and CosmoProf,” Savur added.
Winning
What does a successful application for MMI look like? What does it take to get noticed? Montijo of Motivo Scar Care, first heard of the MMI program through StartOut, a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ founders. He had already gone through the StartOut program and was excited when he heard about the MMI, but also nervous because this would be the first step in really testing the waters to see if he could bring his product into the beauty industry.
When it came time to write his MMI application, submit a video, and go through the interview process, Montijo introduced himself and his company—Motivo Scar Care, a line of scar care products—with vulnerability and presented his business directly and honestly. In his application, Montijo explained, “This is the category we usually play in, and this is the new category I want to carve out.” He also included his general background and building businesses in the cannabis industry. “I was just so vulnerable about not having a network in the beauty industry. I thought that [the vulnerability] was really important [to convey].” Montijo also advised that if you are applying for these programs, you should have a clear understanding of your business's current position. “These programs can only give you the help you need if you really understand where you are at.”
To get the green light from Maesa was a pivotal moment for Montijo. “Knowing that other people see how scars impact, how people internalize their beauty, and that this is something that can be accepted into this industry. That was a truly huge moment for me and my business.”
El Wanni, of The Potion Studio, was not only part of the MMI program, but she and her brand were accepted into the highly competitive Sephora Accelerate 2025 cohort. The Potion Studio is El Wanni’s first business, created in her mother’s kitchen from El Wanni’s passion for beauty. “I wanted to share what I was making in my mother’s kitchen with the rest of the world, so I launched the business.”
El Wanni initially approached her business as a side hustle. When she first started out, although she didn’t really know what an accelerator program was, she began applying to various accelerator programs, but she felt like something wasn’t quite right. “Then I found the Maesa program, and I was like, ‘Okay, what do I have to lose?’” El Wanni recognized that the MMI program seemed in line with what she and her business needed most: mentorship. “Obviously, the money is great, but at the end of the day, even if I hadn’t received a dollar, I still walked away with so much knowledge, so much help, and really good connections.”
What It Takes to Get Noticed
Savur advised potential applicants to conduct a thorough review of Maesa’s website, which provides clear instructions on the application process. “But I can tell you from a revenue standpoint, we typically have a threshold of around $50K - $100K in revenue, because the $35,000 should feel like a meaningful infusion of capital,” Savur explained. “We want to see that you've put some sweat into the business and spent some time building it.” Applicants must also be over 18 years of age, a resident of the US, and come from an underserved community.
Applications for the next MMI program will be accepted through August 6.
