At Maison Jila, true luxury uplifts. Inspired by the landscapes and legacies of Cameroon, our fragrances are a tribute to our heritage and hope. We work towards our purpose going beyond scent: we turn every purchase into a pathway for change, starting with the health and education of young girls in Cameroon and across Africa.
Our founder, Jila, was shaped by two passions: the science of smell and beauty, and issues within public health. After studying cosmetic chemistry and global health in college, one image remained unforgettable: driving through the beautiful Cameroonian countryside, passing villages along the roadside and the smelling the scent of grilled soya. Among these vibrant scenes are young girls, at first coming across selling pineapple slices in the Cameroonian heat. Many do smile brightly, but also have bear the quiet burden of swollen bellies, an unmistakable sign of parasitic worm infections.
These are not rare occurrences. Intestinal worms including Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworms affect nearly half of all school-aged children in many regions of sub-Saharan Africa, including Cameroon. These infections do not just cause discomfort: they lead to chronic malnutrition, stunted growth, fatigue, and missed days of school, especially for girls.
However there is hope because we know something: deworming works.
Long-term panel esearch has shown that simple, low-cost deworming treatments can increase school attendance, boost long-term earnings, and improve the lives of children, even among children in the area who did not receive the treatment directly. In development economics there are the power of what we call positive externalities; when fewer children are infected, the entire community becomes healthier due to the way the worms are proliferated.
That is why for every bottle of perfume sold, Maison Jila donates deworming treatment to 20 children, prioritizing girls in rural communities. It is an affordable, scalable intervention, and one that currently no one is investing in.
Our dream is to treat 1,000,000 children by the end of 2028. We are a young brand with an ambitious heart, and we believe beauty should always have a positive impact.
Join us. Let’s turn fragrance into freedom! One child, one village, one bottle at a time.