Rihanna to Serena Williams to Shah Rukh Khan – here’s how celebrity entrepreneurs are disrupting the market

Any business person worth their salt will tell you that a tried-and-true way to grab eyeballs for their product is to score a celebrity endorsement. Nothing looks as great on a giant hoarding adorning Times Square or the slick streets of Dubai as a good-looking celebrity, swearing by your brand.

These personalities, which constitute movie stars, pop singers, and a miscellany of famous people, have always enjoyed the sweet symbiosis of endorsements – from clothes to jewelry to make-up, even holidays, lifestyles, political opinions, public service health announcements. They lend credibility to a brand and, in return, do not hesitate to charge big bucks for how that credibility benefits the brand.

In August 2021, the world came to know that popstar Rihanna had unfurled her umbrella to earn one more accolade under its ambit – billionaire. This was not only due to her music career but also her beauty brand, Fenty Beauty launched in 2017, and her SAVAGE x FENTY lingerie line, causing her net worth to shoot up to $ 1.7 billion. Started when she was 29 to create an inclusive make-up brand that would not propagate Eurocentric beauty ideals that solely focused on fairness, the brand’s wide shade range with 50 skin tones, and a “vision of the new culture of skincare” has ushered in a revolution in make-up.

Rihanna’s business is indicative of a hot new business trend – that of celebrity entrepreneurs. Moving beyond the role of being an expensive advertising strategy, celebrities have evolved, looking to command the lion’s share in the market with a simple, game-changing question – what if the business was owned and run by the celebrity?