Being in the business of plaiting hair from the age of 13, Pretty Nxumalo set out to make a product that would address her clients' challenges. Today, she is the owner of Sonwa Hair and Beauty, a company that produces a range of products for African hair.
The Mpumalanga-based entrepreneur started her business in 2021 after realising there was a gap in the market for effective and affordable hair products, particularly in her community.
Nxumalo said most of her clients had similar complaints, mainly itchy scalp, dandruff and hair breakage.
“I knew that I needed to bring solutions to these problems that my clients were dealing with. As I learnt more about hair, I learnt what was necessary to create the products that could help.”
Her range of products, which are plant-based and have no chemicals or parabens, includes an anti-itch spray with a cooling effect for braids, shampoo, leave-in conditioner, rinse-off conditioner and hair food.
With Sonwa's products selling for between R50 and R100, Nxumalo said they were some of the most affordable organic hair-care products on the market.
Nxumalo, who has a business management qualification, is also a licensed cosmetologist and owns a beauty parlour in her community in Kwabokweni, outside Mbombela.
Unlike many businesses that suffered due to the Covid pandemic, Nxumalo said it presented an exciting opportunity for her to introduce a new product.
As beauty parlours were closed, people started looking for hair products they could use at home, she said. After months of conducting research, she was able to find the raw materials to use for the brand.
However, she did not have sufficient capacity to produce the products from scratch.
“My plan had to change, and I had to start by outsourcing the production of the products as I couldn't afford to do it on my own. I had to find a manufacturer that would stick to what I wanted, which was not easy,” she said.
She quickly learnt that self-funding the business was more difficult than she expected.
“Initially I had managed to cover the operational costs with my savings, but as demand for our product grows, it has become challenging to scale up the business without additional funding.”
Despite already having a customer base that trusted her skills as a hair stylist, getting people to try out her products proved tricky
Despite already having a customer base that trusted her skills as a hair stylist, getting people to try out her products proved tricky. Nxumalo said, as they were using hair-care products from larger and more well-known brands.
She started using her products to care for her clients’ hair to demonstrate how well they worked. This led to more people buying them to use at home.
After this, she managed to market the products to other hair stylists in her community. Today, more than 12 hair salons use the Sonwa hair-care range in her hometown. The company now employs two other people, with a plan to hire two others in the first half of the year.
“We sell more than 500 units in a good month, with the anti-itch spray the [best-selling] product that we have. This year we will be introducing a new product to the range, after inquiries from our clients.”
Nxumalo recently secured funding from the Small Enterprise Development Agency to expand the business and manufacture her own products. This will allow her to grow the team and create employment opportunities in the community.
While she now supplies her clients directly and also sells online, she is trying to get her products onto the shelves of major retail stores.
“Getting our products on the shelves at major retail stores would help expose us to a larger audience. This will help accelerate our growth strategy as a company.”
Looking to the future, Nxumalo said while she wanted to add more products to the range, she also intended to open a beauty hub, where she would only use locally produced products, including hers, to care for people’s hair.
“Knowing the struggles that I encountered as an entrepreneur, I want to have a space where people can showcase their products and allow consumers to try them out. As it worked for me, I am confident it would help other businesses.”
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