Kaikura helps hair and beauty pros to identify and achieve short and long-term personal goals.

Scratch chats to its founder, Steph Stevenson, former National Hair & Beauty Federation board member & owner of the award-winning HNB Salon & Spa in Poole…

What inspired you to launch Kaikura?

I founded Kaikura as in most professional careers, personal development is standard – and this should be the same for the hair and beauty industry. All of us have the potential to be successful – this just needs to be unlocked so you can achieve what you want in life, whether that be starting a business, buying a salon, or simply booking a holiday or purchasing a new car. I think most people would love a life coach, but mentoring courses are too expensive for most at around £1000 per day and require significant time.

Kaikura is designed for everybody, providing a mentor in your pocket to guide you to reach your goals – both now and in the long-term – and it can be accessed at any time and wherever suits you.

The app was developed using a government grant that Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council helped us to receive. We showed some key people the huge potential of hair and beauty businesses, and what they offer to the local economy and overall wellbeing of residents. They recognised that by helping individual professionals to succeed, this has a much bigger, positive impact on the whole community, so decided to make Kaikura free for hair and beauty pros in those areas.

Tell us about the app’s animation and gaming technology…

Using animation and AI technology allows us to create content without the need for expensive and time-consuming filming days, ensuring we keep releasing fresh content. This also means we can react to the issues affecting beauty professionals. As we monitor what questions are most asked and the most popular topics, we can quickly add relevant coaching sessions.

Once signed up, where should pros start to make full use of Kaikura?

The first series of Kaikura is all about goal setting: understanding where you want to be and the steps to get there. Kaikura doesn’t tell you what to do; instead, it makes you think by asking you questions and setting tasks to complete. You also have access to a mentor, with whom you can virtually discuss thoughts and ideas. New content will then become more specialised, focusing on the key issues that happen in your professional life and how to deal with them.

What content is available through the app?

Personal development is not like a technical skill, where in most cases there is a right and wrong way to do it. All of us have different goals at different stages in our lives, as well as very individual requirements. This is why we have created Kaikura from three different perspectives:

• Kai – the apprentice.
• Kura – the stylist/therapist.
• The Boss – the salon owner.

We also aim to help those who own or manage salons and/or staff to understand what is important to each team member and what will motivate them, creating a stronger and more united team.

In series one we coach pros in the key foundations needed to create a successful future:

• How to set SMART goals.
• Vision boards.
• What’s stopping you.
• Changing your mindset.
• Maintaining success in difficult times.

Just like a TV series, Kaikura regularly releases a new series of ‘episodes’, so fresh content is available before you finish a series. There are also breakout rooms, allowing you to discuss ideas with other beauty professionals and creating a community of support and advice.

Download Kaikura on the App Store or Google Play, or access it on the web via www.kaikura.io. It is free for three days, before costing £9.99 per month. Pros in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area will see their fee set to £0 when signing up on the website.