Kim So-hee is the entrepreneur behind Nanda, which, since its conception in 2004, has turned into a group of Millennial- and Gen-Z-friendly brands that helped put Korean style on the map.
So-hee’s business started out as a web mall called Nanda, which she launched aged 21 with the help of her aunt and mother. By 2016, the company was making a net profit of $20.4 million from sales of $101 million with a total of three brands: clothing lines Stylenanda and KKXX as well as beauty company 3CE.
Through its distribution partnership with Asos, Stylenanda has become a key player in turning Korean women’s style into a global export, as has 3CE in Korea’s fabled beauty industry.
3CE has become the group’s biggest cash cow, amounting to 69 percent of its overall revenue. In 2018, L’Oréal bought a controlling stake in the whole group in a deal that the Korean Economic Daily estimated to be worth $375 million.
With over 86,000 Instagram followers as of July 2019, So-hee is an influential figure in her own right. In 2018, she featured on Forbes’ “The Emergent 25 Asia's Latest Star Businesswomen.”
