Batley salon ‘over the moon’ after TRIPLE success at the 2023 British Hair and Beauty Awards

Kamaya - an aesthetics, beauty and training salon on Branch Road in the town centre - won Best New Business for the second year running at the prestigious online ceremony, while also claiming silver in the Training Centre of Excellence category and bronze for individual Makeup Artist of the Year.

Run by best friends Khadijah Hussain, a fully qualified aesthetics practitioner, and Sumaiyah Aqib, 29, an artistry trained make-up artist who claimed the individual bronze award, the salon, which has only been open for two and a half years, provides a diverse range of beauty treatments for clients while also specialising in courses to help budding students and trainees - with some travelling from London and even Ireland to learn from the experienced duo.

“We were screaming down the phone when we got the news,” revealed Khadijah, 34, who is from Bradford. “We are absolutely over the moon. It is a very competitive business but we want to make sure that people are trained to the highest standards to ensure their qualification can be used for the future.

“We buzz off people making something of themselves. When we see our students’ success, we know we have done a good job.”

She added: “We also want to bring something to Batley which can help other people. We train a lot of people who have got salons in the town and a lot of their staff come to train with. People say, ‘Isn’t that you training the competition?’ but we say that it is all about helping others.

“We want to see Batley brighten up.”

The business owners met at a training course themselves after Khadijah quit her job at Yorkshire Water, while Sumaiyah, 29, left her career at Greater Manchester Police.

Between them, they have eight children, aged between two and 11, and Sumaiyah believes they can help to inspire others.

She said: “We want to show people that anyone can do it. If you put your heart into it, you can do it. We are a business that opened in COVID and are two young girls with four kids each. We put our heart into it and did it and will inspire others to do the same.

“We’ve been through a lot and just thought we’d open a business. We have put our life and soul into it, not knowing whether it was going to take off or not, and in uncertain times during COVID as well.

“Also, Khadijah’s mum, Janette, was a big part of Kamaya and she sadly passed away a year ago from cancer. That was really hard but we kept it together.

“She would be very proud of us with these awards. We certainly didn’t expect it.”

After success in 2022 and 2023, what does 2024 have in store for the award-winning salon?

“Well, hopefully we can win for the third year running,” said Khadijah. “We are looking at branching out and opening elsewhere. We have looked at places in Bradford and Bolton as we have got a lot of clients in those towns, but the right place has not come up yet.”

Sumaiyah added: “We would just like to thank everyone, clients and our family, for moral support. Everything is down to our clients and the support of our family.

“We are so grateful for everyone. It has been an amazing journey so far and hopefully there is more to come as well.”