Fro Girls Salon Emerges From Nasty Hair Experience
Cavin Kanoko | Monday July 6, 2020 15:53
The brand has an array of natural hair products formulated specifically to cater for African hair using 100% organic and natural ingredients. Dinama said she was inspired to start her business after her mother reacted to the chemical relaxer.
“Fro Girls was founded in 2018 and was inspired by a sad story of my mother who one day visited a hair salon to get her hair relaxed as usual but on that day my mother had an adverse reaction the chemical relaxer and lost hair in the middle of her head eight years ago,” she said.
Dinama later realised that African hair is hard to maintain since it is naturally dry, so she decided to look for products that would suit her natural hair in local shops.
After failing to find the solution, she started researching and found out that moisture plays a big role in growing hair naturally.
This realisation prompted her to start formulating products without chemicals that help to infuse moisture in the hair to make it softer without changing its texture.
While doing her market research, she realised that many women in her community had adopted the natural hair trend, but they had a problem of finding good products, so she started experimenting using African oils and butters. There were several failed formulas, but the desire to come up with a solution drove her to try until all her formulas were perfected. Then she gave out samples to people to try them and give her positive feedback. The company is composed of a team of seven people including the formulator and sales people.
“Our products are formulated using natural oils, butters, Ayurvedic herbs and many other natural products most of which are sourced from different parts of Africa. They also use indigenous oils and herbs such as morula oil, mongongo oil, moringa oil and also moringa powder,” she said.
Their products include moisturisers, shampoo, treatments, conditioners and hair oils along with a range of products for kids.
Fro Girls products have been tested and proven safe to use on the human scalp.
Fro Girls formulates thick and creamy products that are well suited for the climate in order to address the basic issues people have with their natural hair. The company received an award for the Best Manufacturing start-up at the Botswana Women’s Exposition in 2019. They also offer consultations to clients on how to care for their natural hair and recommend products that they can use to maintain their hair. With a market saturated by foreign products, Fro Girls products have received overwhelming support.
The company also imports its products to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Ireland through courier services.
Locally, the products are distributed through salons, hair shops, pharmacies and individual distributors. Dinama said starting a business without funding can be hard, but should not be a limitation for young Batswana looking to start their own businesses as they can utilise funding schemes such as the youth development fund. She also emphasised the importance of carrying out a market research, establishing a target market and learning the basics of running a business. Dinama has received mentorship from the Fembiobiz programme through the Botswana Innovation Hub and she also received mentorship from the Lora Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.