Fro'Niques Aims To Lead Cosmetics Industry
Cavin Kanoko | Monday October 12, 2020 15:05
Given the academic backgrounds of two sisters, Bonolo Simon and Kefilwe Matake who hail from Tutume, it would have been far-fetched to think they could do such a thing.
But their passions for beauty and things beautiful saw them gravitating towards a revolutionary cosmetics business with a potential to become a conveyor of sought-after products.
Simon and Matake started Fro’Niques after Simon completed her degree in media studies (general) from the University of Botswana this year while Matake completed her degree in BSC Information Technology in 2017 from the same institution.
“Our love and passion for Africanism inspired the foundation of Fro’Niques in the year 2019 and Fro’Niques was also inspired by stories about black women all over the world,” Simon told MonitorBusiness.
She pointed out their vision was to create a brand where beauty is celebrated to the core, which black people out there can relate to, and that allows people to embrace and nurture their beautiful coiled and kinky hair.
Simon added that adequate information is needed in order to be a natural hair products formulator which is why they had to upskill themselves by doing research on hair. The two siblings revealed that for more than a year they carried out their research online, attended online hair seminars, read books and also enrolled in organic hair care master classes.
They wanted to gain knowledge of the best ingredients to include in their products and to avoid toxic ingredients like parabens, silicone and sulphates.
Simon said their goal at Fro’Niques is to be leaders in the cosmetics industry and inspire young entrepreneurs out there by sharing the success story of their brand. Their product range includes hairbutter, hair growth oil, curling custard and stretch marks cream.
“We advertise through Facebook and most of the time through word of mouth. Our Facebook page has about 908 followers,” she revealed. Simon also outlined some the challenges of being female entrepreneurs. These include their struggles of being taken seriously and the difficulty in coping with failure while it is also hard to build a support network.
“COVID-19 has affected us a lot, it takes long to get our ingredients like shea butter well on time because of processes at the borders as a result we end up buying from people and it is usually expensive,” Simon lamented.
However, she revealed that during lockdown they used the opportunity to conduct a research on their business.
She said the demand is not bad so far because what they produce sells quite well and more women are now embracing natural hair than before.
Fro’Niques produces homemade hair products using organic and natural ingredients and the company also sells natural hair accessories such as satin bonnets and satin scrunchies. The company is located in Block 8.