The Sunday Mail
Out of frustration from not being able to find good quality natural hair products on the local market, Lienne Shonhiwa (LS) saw a gap to start her own hair care company, Manetain Organics. In an interview with The Sunday Mail Business (SM), she talked about the untapped potential in the natural hair care industry, her most effective marketing initiatives and why more women are going back to natural hair.
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SM: Tell us about your life before entrepreneurship.
LS: I’m a psychologist by profession. I worked in the supply chain industry for years before the business. To be honest it was not a plan I ever had when I was working in the corporate sector. I had a good job and was quite content with climbing the ranks in the industry and one day retiring with a nice golden handshake.
Then I got laid off and suddenly I felt exposed. As a young person with a growing family this was a scary position to be in. That is when I decided to combine my passion for hair and the haircare industry with my work experience to start my own brand.
SM: How did you start the business?
LS: The one thing I always sing on top of my voice to anyone listening is start where you are with what you have. I didn’t wait until I had thousands of dollars as start up capital. I had a couple of hundred dollars, sourced some ingredients locally and started formulating products in my kitchen. I would stay up at night researching and taking online courses on formulating. At that time I was also a very active hair blogger sharing tips and tricks on haircare.
I already had a captive audience, so introducing products to them was actually something they had been waiting for. It was not an easy road — the first two years were quite challenging, sometimes I was barely breaking even, but I decided to remain consistent and head strong not to give up.
SM: What motivated you to do what you do?
LS: It was out of frustration from not being able to find good quality products on the local market. Back then you would walk into any local store and 80 percent of the products on the shelves were formulated for Caucasian hair or for chemically treated hair. When you did come across products for natural hair, they were imported and very expensive. So the problem is clear, how do I create quality products for natural hair using ingredients found locally and in neighbouring countries? That’s how the journey began.
SM: What’s the extent of untapped potential in your line of business
LS: Till today there is still a very huge gap in terms of locally manufactured products for natural hair. More and more women are going back to natural hair because of the long terms effects research has shown that chemical relaxers have.
More women have become more conscious of the type of ingredients and products they consume preferring more natural and organic alternatives. Therefore, there is a growing need for products that specifically address these needs. Globally the natural hair product industry is estimated at US$9 billion and estimated to keep growing. The need for good quality natural hair products is not only unique to Zimbabwe, but the world over especially in Africa.
SM: What are your most effective marketing efforts?
LS: Social media has been one of our most effective marketing tool. Our target market is women between the ages of 18-44 and they are quite active online. During Covid-19 lockdowns, the use of social media grew exponentially and this affected our business positively. People had more time to look through social media and this is when we amplified our presence.
Our products require a lot of customer education and we have found that videos are the most effective in showing how to effectively use the products. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok are very good for video marketing. WhatsApp has also been a very powerful tool for us. It’s easy to send broadcast messages when we have promotions or new products.
SM: What lessons have you learnt so far?
LS: Big business started small at some point. It is important to have systems in your business no matter how small. This helps when you are now trying to scale up and grow the business. Cutting corners may seem like they save you time and money in the short term, but it always catches up with you in the long run. Be willing and intentional about having a succession plan; can your business thrive and survive without you being present? If it cannot, you have to put in place systems for that. As a generation, our problem is not that we do not have good ideas and businesses our problem is our businesses die when we die because we did not have a long-term plan for business continuation.
SM: Do you have any expansion plans for the business?
LS: In 2020 we were able to get our products listed in TM Pickn’Pay where the products have been doing very well. The plan is to also launch the product into other retail supermarkets like Spar and OK. Recently we went to the Zambian Agricultural and Commercial Show where the products received an overwhelming response. By the time we left we had secured some good distribution channels.
We hope to penetrate the retail market in Zambia as well as neighbouring countries. We will continue to formulate new and innovative products for natural hair. Our plan is to continue to make use of indigenous ingredients that highlight the best of what the country can offer.
