(CNN)Class is in session at schools across Nigeria, where students are learning to shape eyebrows, smooth foundation, apply eye-shadow, and -- perhaps -- defy economic gloom to grasp a glamorous future. Informed by the remarkable rise of their own "head teacher" to the summit of Nigeria's cosmetics industry, the students -- for the most part young women in their 20s and 30s -- are being taught that makeup artistry can be their passport to self-confidence, independence, and a business of their own. Making a difference to young lives is all part of the mission for 37-year-old cosmetics queen Tara Fela-Durotoye.
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House of Tara is Nigerian beauty brand that teaches makeup styling and business skills to budding cosmetics entrepreneurs
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CEO Tara Fela-Durotoye says she teaches makeup artistry as "a platform of enterprise"
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Graduates are taught all the skills they need to start a small business
"There are certain things telling you that you cannot make it; that you will not make it; that @placeholder is not a place where people make it," says Fela-Durotoye.