This is Bailao & Co.
This is Bailao & Co.
A response to burnout culture. A return to beauty, ritual, and what has always sustained us — rooted in ancestral wisdom, built for real life.
Not Just a Brand. A Way of Living.
Bailao & Co. was not born in a boardroom. It was born from exhaustion, clarity, and a decision to stop building other people’s legacies and start building something that truly matters.
After a decade navigating the highest levels of corporate life — driving results in IT and SaaS sales at Google, Microsoft, and leading scale-ups — our founder Mouna Jacobsen found herself brilliant on paper and quietly depleted in reality. The environments were high-performing but emotionally hollow. The results were there. The meaning was not.
After surviving a period of serious illness and a terrifying fire, she made a choice: reclaim her time, her creativity, and her vision. And build something rooted in what her ancestors had always known — that beauty is not a luxury. Ritual is not indulgence. Pause is not weakness. These are the practices that sustain people through the hardest seasons of life.
Bailao & Co. is that answer. Named for her grandmother Bailao — a woman of quiet strength and deep grace — it is a bold, beautiful response to the burnout epidemic. A lifestyle rooted in ancestral wisdom, African wellness, and the belief that quality, meaning, and beauty belong in everyday life.
What We Believe
For generations — even in the most difficult times — our ancestors turned to beauty, ritual, community, and creativity as tools for survival and joy. Not as extras. As essentials.
We believe the same is true today. That slowing down is strategic. That a beautiful object made with intention carries something a mass-produced one never will. That gathering with the right people in the right space can change the direction of your life.
What We Create
Our ritual candles are hand-poured from a luxurious blend of beeswax and coconut wax, paired with fine fragrance oils. Each one carries a name drawn from Fulani language or African heritage — and tells a story of soul, balance, and return. These are not just candles. They are objects of intention, made to anchor a moment of stillness in your day.
Beyond products, Bailao & Co. creates experiences. Through Bailao Sacred Spaces, we curate intimate retreats in extraordinary locations — bringing together founders, creatives, and vision-led people for days of clarity, beauty, rest, and aligned next steps. Our first gathering is the Morocco Founders Circle, October 2026.
Everything we make — whether a candle or a curated retreat — is an expression of the same belief: that the right environment, the right pace, and the right intention change everything.
Our Impact: The Ol’New
Bailao was also created with a deeper purpose. To become a commercial engine that funds something much bigger and more meaningful on the ground in West Africa.
The Ol’New is our long-term vision: to build, starting in Mouna’s maternal region of Labé, Guinea, a model that combines agriculture, local production, job creation, safe homes for women and children, and maternal clinics in rural areas.
Products grown and processed locally — exported to Europe, sold as high-quality traceable goods — and profits reinvested into social infrastructure. Not charity. Restoration.
20% of all profits from Bailao & Co. support women-led initiatives across Africa. 15% directly sustains The Ol’New.
Learn More About The Ol’NewThe People Behind It
Mouna Jacobsen is the founder and Creative Director. She shapes the brand’s scents, rituals, experiences, and vision — drawing from her African and Arabic heritage, Nordic upbringing, decade in corporate high-performance environments, and her deep belief that beauty and strategy are not opposites.
Kenneth Skoubølling Jacobsen is the Visual Director. With over 30 years in cinematography and media production, he translates the Bailao vision into film, photography, and visual storytelling — ensuring every image carries the brand’s depth and elegance.
“This is not just a brand. It is a return — to ritual, to beauty, to the practices that have always carried us through.”
