Today’s beauty business is proving that community building is one of its most valuable currencies. Yet, as legacy corporations chase cultural capital, the brands most rooted in culture—especially Black-owned and POC ones—often risk losing their essence in the process of scaling. The question has moved from whether these businesses can grow to whether they can do so without erasure. Enter Cost of Doing Business (CODB), a new holding company founded by Topicals executives Olamide Olowe and Sochima Mbadugha, designed to scale culturally resonant brands, while keeping their founders and communities front and center.
CODB launched earlier this year with the high-profile acquisition of Bread Beauty Supply, an Australian-founded, Black-owned haircare brand known for its simple packaging and inclusive approach to textured hair, which raised a multimillion seed round in 2023. Rather than waiting for culturally relevant brands to be swept up by conglomerates that often arguably dilute their identities, CODB is betting on a different model—one where operational excellence and creative vision coexist without compromise.
At the helm of this vision is Mbadugha, President of Topicals and now co-founder of CODB, whose experience scaling one of the most dynamic skincare brands of the past five years is being used as a framework for something much bigger. That is, a new era of investment that values culture as much as commerce.
From Operator to Builder: Industry-Agnostic, Vision-Centric
Mbadugha’s journey to CODB began at Topicals, the breakout skincare brand that’s upended the rules of beauty marketing with its data-informed community strategy, marketing, and unflinching voice. Having been with the brand since its earliest days, Mbadugha helped transform it from an indie darling to a cultural force. However, she and Topicals CEO Olowe—who co-founded CODB—wanted to do more than ride the wave. They wanted to build new vessels for other visionaries to sail.
“What we’re doing with CODB is taking the playbook we used at Topicals and applying it to other brands that have strong cultural relevance,” Mbadugha explained to BeautyMatter. “It’s about seeing if what we’ve built can work across different industries and with founders who have a unique point of view.”
Notably, CODB is structured as a completely separate entity from Topicals. That independence, Mbadugha said, would allow both companies to retain their identities while cross-pollinating ideas. “Topicals is its own world. CODB is where we test whether what worked for us can empower others.”
While their expertise lies in beauty, Mbadugha emphasized that CODB is industry-agnostic. What matters isn’t the category but the cultural weight a brand carries and the clarity of its vision. “Bread was our first move, and it’s telling in terms of our values,” she said. “We’re not just looking for profitable companies. We’re looking for brands with soul—brands that mean something to their communities.”
Bread, which built its name on rejecting traditional Eurocentric beauty norms in haircare, felt like a natural extension of Topicals. “There are so many parallels between what Bread has done for textured hair and what Topicals has done for chronic skin conditions,” Mbadugha pointed out. “One of the comments we saw during Bread’s relaunch was that it felt like Topicals’ sister—and this was before the acquisition even went public,” she continued.
Protecting the Founder’s Vision
Central to CODB’s philosophy is the idea that founders shouldn’t be sidelined in the name of scale. In many cases, Mbadugha noted, Black-owned brands are acquired only to lose their edge and the trust of their communities. “We’ve seen it time and again, [when] a Black-owned brand gets acquired and the product changes, the founder disappears and the community feels abandoned,” she said. “We want to flip that narrative.”
Maeva Heim, Bread’s founder, hasn’t stepped back, she’s stepped up. As Chief Creative Officer of Bread under CODB’s leadership, Heim will continue to guide the brand’s direction. For COBD, preserving the founder’s voice isn’t only nice-to-have, it’s also essential. “The founder’s vision is what made Bread successful. Keeping that intact while supporting the brand operationally is what will take it to the next level,” Mbadugha emphasized.
Despite its visibility and Sephora shelf space, Bread’s path hasn’t been without friction. Retail expansion, while a sign of growth, can also be a double-edged sword. “People underestimate how capital-intensive retail is,” Mbadugha said. “Yes, being in Sephora or Ulta [Beauty] is great exposure, but if you don’t have the right operators behind you, it can become a cash drain.”
CODB’s approach is to ensure strategic resource allocation, by a way of prioritizing channels and campaigns that deliver high ROI and avoiding the common trap of spreading too thin too fast. “Retailers like Sephora and Ulta [Beauty] are incredibly demanding—and they should be. They’re brand makers. But the key is placing the right bets,” Mbadugha noted.
This kind of pragmatism is reflected in CODB’s funding strategy. Mbadugha noted to BeautyMatter that the company is backed by a mix of angel and institutional investors, many of whom had originally expressed interest in investing in Topicals. “We were closed off for capitals on the Topicals side, but when CODB came up, those same people saw an opportunity to invest in our broader vision,” said Mbadugha.
Even with their success at Topicals, Mbadugha and Olowe are candid about the steep learning curve that comes with transitioning from brand operator to investor-builder. Haircare and skincare, Mbadugha said, are vastly different industries—different needs, different triggers, different consumers. “We’ve come into this with a student mentality,” she said. “What worked in skincare might not work in haircare, so we’re staying curious and nimble.”
That humility doesn’t mean going in blind. CODB has recruited seasoned professionals, including Topicals’ former interim CFO, to ensure Bread’s path is both scalable and profitable. “The goal isn’t just growth, it’s profitability,” Mbadugha said. “A lot of brands are still chasing capital, but given the current economic climate, we want to prove our model works by being profitable early,” she continued.
A Different Kind of Competition
For now, CODB’s full attention is on Bread. Despite an influx of inbound interest following the acquisition announcement, Mbadugha insisted their priority is focus. “We’ve had founders reach out since the news broke, and that’s been really exciting,” she said. “But our North Star is making sure Bread wins. We can’t dilute our energy or compromise on execution,” she added.
Still, CODB remains open to new relationships and is carefully tracking brands that align with its ethos. This, however, isn’t a numbers game. It’s about alignment, not acquisition velocity. “When the right brand comes along, we’ll know,” Mbadugha noted. “It has to feel organic. It has to feel inevitable.”
Interestingly, COBD doesn’t view other Black-owned skincare brands as competition—even though Topicals is a player in that space. Instead, it advocates for cross-category collaboration and expansion of market share. “The customer is already shopping across brands and categories. So why not build partnerships that elevate everyone?” she asked. “There’s enough room for all of us. It’s not about dominating, but about multiplying.”
This abundance mindset, paired with rigorous business fundamentals, is what sets CODB apart from traditional investment firms and legacy acquirers. They’re not just in the business of buying, but also in the business of believing.
The acquisition of Bread is a statement of intent. CODB wants to change what’s possible for culturally resonant, founder-led brands, and they want to do it without erasing the very people who built them. That’s the real cost of doing business, Mbadugha suggested. It’s not only a financial endeavor but also a philosophical one. And if CODB’s trajectory is any indication, it’s a cost they’re more than willing to pay.
