1. Natural Hair and Body Care Products FROM THE KITCHEN TO A HOUSE OF BRANDS

2. Relaxed Hair

3. American Natural Hair

4. Our Natural Hair

5. My Own Kind Of Beautiful
AfroBotanics gives women option to wear hair natural by providing quality products for long term results as well as education on science of black hair
African Hair is curly, coily therefore very dry, coarse, brittle, breaks
Lack of understanding about science of black hair amongst black women
For historical reasons, black beauty not accepted
Thinking hair can be uniform, even amongst black women hair differs
Can’t change genetic make-up of hair
Imagine really hating a part of yourself?

6. African Inspired
Passionate about African history and culture – Inspired by my Grandma the Healer
Passionate about Africa women, we celebrate African women
Passionate about hair, one of women’s best accessory
We use old age African oil infused hair formulations – used for centuries
Inspired to produce that which we use
Changing the definition of beauty is about affirming a whole continent = Africa Rising!

7. Our Journey Started in 2011 in Nelspruit with retirement money
Moved to Joburg 2012 to pursue national retail chain listing
Listed with Game 2014 only stocked in December 2015 starting in 20 stores
Vision – To be the leading African premium mass natural beauty brand
Currently in 600 Clicks, Game, Jumbo and Pick n Pay Stores and 8 African countries
We have spent a lot of time and resources on getting our packaging design right and brand positioning right and just being retail ready including getting barcoding right

8. Branding

9. Our Journey

10. Our Journey R240,000.00 starting capital
Business plan didn’t work out, growth was too small
Hadn’t thought about distribution – explored salon route, network marketing route
Cashstrapped!
Started outsourcing but turned to manufacturing because funders want that
Approached State funders because no assets to leverage manufacturing much harder because it pushed up our costs

11. Our Journey
Getting logistics sorted was easier and costs related to delivering to DC have been easier
Moved to Joburg 2012 to pursue national retail chain listing
Listed with Game 2014 only stocked in December 2015 starting in 20 stores
Vision – To be the leading African premium mass natural beauty brand
Currently in 600 Clicks, Game and Pick n Pay Stores and 8 African countries

12. Challenges Understanding how retail works – trading terms etc
Costly mistakes – incorrect pricing
Funding for scaling – 28 stores – 300 stores
Getting right systems in place and economies of scale
Access to market
Lack of access to information – Information very expensive

13. Solutions Support from retailers – Massmart and Clicks
Still self-funded and 100% owned
Constantly seeking new brand positioning
Community building not just sales
Improving efficiency, saving costs - cheaper inputs
Pushing for growth – economies of scale
Working with what we have e.g. marketing

14. Making A Difference Never too small to give back
African businesses have an inherent duty to give back
We are funding the establishment of an aloe vera farm in Makapanstad with unemployed youth.
The economy and actors in the economy has to grow, it’s in business best interest
Also working with an NGO in the Early Childhood Development sector