Nigerian Engineer Yinka Ogunbiyi’s HaloBraid Wins $75,000 Harvard Innovation Prize

Harvard graduate Yinka Ogunbiyi, creator of the automated HaloBraid device engineered to complete braids up to five times faster.

Nigerian-born engineer and Harvard graduate Yinka Ogunbiyi has taken the technology and beauty worlds by storm with HaloBraid, an automated braid-assist device designed to complete hand-started braids up to five times faster. Created alongside her co-founder, David Afolabi, HaloBraid recently won top honours and the $75,000 grand prize in the Alumni & Affiliates Open track at the 2025 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge. Designed to support high-impact ventures emerging from Harvard’s global network, the annual competition celebrates ground-breaking solutions to real-world challenges. HaloBraid slashes traditional styling times from hours to minutes, reducing physical strain like carpal tunnel and back pain for braiders while allowing salons to comfortably double their daily clients.

The idea for HaloBraid came directly from Ogunbiyi’s personal experience as a braid enthusiast. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the Harvard-trained engineer spent four long days trying to install her own knotless braids. That tedious experience sparked a lightbulb moment: building smart engineering to handle the repetitive, time-consuming part of hair braiding while keeping the stylist completely in control of the craft.

The official design of HaloBraid, the world’s first automated braid-assist device launching commercially in autumn 2026.

Now backed by over $7 million in funding and with more than 7,000 salons eagerly sitting on its waiting list, HaloBraid is gearing up for its official commercial rollout. Adding even more creative authority to the vision, world-renowned celebrity hairstylist Vernon François has officially joined the team as Creative Engineer. Reflecting on his role in shaping this next-generation beauty technology, François shared:

I am proud to announce that I have joined Halo as a Creative Engineer. This milestone is the result of unwavering consistency, relentless curiosity, and the understanding that artistry is a form of intelligence. Decades of experience working with hair, people, and potential now empower me to shape the future. There is a significant difference between being invited to the room and searching for a seat at the table—and walking in to find your place already recognised. But this goes even further.

I haven’t been invited just to sit at the table. I’ve been invited to question its structure, influence its design, and define who it serves next. My perspective is an essential part of the process, not an addition. This is true meaningful collaboration. I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Not by coincidence, but through consistency, artistry, and a steadfast conviction that the knowledge we hold belongs in shaping the future. HaloBraid supports professional stylists by completing hand-started braids up to five times faster while matching their technique. Thank you to the Halo team for recognizing not only my work but the potential of what we will create together. The Art of Afro Hair isn’t standing outside the future asking to be included—it’s helping to engineer it.

The groundbreaking device is officially set to make its commercial debut in autumn 2026, launching first across select professional salons.

HaloBraid founder Yinka Ogunbiyi at Harvard Business School, where her automated braid-assist technology won top honours at the President’s Innovation Challenge.

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