Margaret Kehinde Akande, chief executive of Awele Bath and Body Works, is tapping into the thriving skin care industry. She started this business five years ago and has since moved from making natural skin care products at home to having a mini factory in Lagos.
She specialises in making natural skin care products from locally sourced ingredients.
Her black soap and lotions are highly coveted in the market, not only because of their quality but as a result of affordability.
“The products that had been around before we entered into the market were very expensive. So, my intention was to make skin care products effective and affordable,” she tells Start-Up Digest.
“We put measures in place to make sure that the running cost was low so that people could afford our products. Our soaps today are just N1,500, unlike many 400 or 500 grams that go for N4,000 or N5,000. We sell for N1,500 to adults and N1,000 to children, and they have high quality,” she explains.
The entrepreneur producesher natural skin care products from shea butter, coconut and almond oil, among others.
In the last five years, a lot has changed in her business. When Akande started, she had just N50,000. But this amount has increased many times today.
She would then go to the market to get raw materials, do production and packaging all by herself. However, things have changed as she now has two staff members.
She began by processing shea butter and coconut oil. But along the line, customers started making demands for soaps.
“I started to do some research,” she says.
“I needed to know how to make black soap in a paste form, such that people could use their hands to scoop and bath with it. From what I made from the business, I started re-investing it,” she adds.
She has customers in Lagos, Oyo (Ibadan) and Edo states.
But she is not satisfied with that, as she looks forward to having a standard factory where she can roll out more products.
“With the present business plan I have now, I am looking at getting N10 million,” she says.
“With the money, I will be able to start a standard factory, with up-to-date equipment for the production of soaps and lotions. We need vans for logistics. We need money for buying standard equipment that will be able to make volume production. The mixer I use at the moment is a 200-litre capacity, but I am looking at getting one that will make 1,000 litres at once. The filling machine that we use in making the bottled lotion is a manual one. I am looking forward to getting automatic ones that can speed up the production process,” she says.
She is a mentee of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce Mentoring Programme and says it has changed her way of thinking and life.
“I have learnt a lot from that,” she says.
“From accounting to book-keeping, I have learned to manage my business better,” she admits.
With power outages crippling production, the entrepreneur wants to acquire a bigger generator that can power bigger machines.
She looks forward to getting grants to expand her business.
As a 21st century entrepreneur, she is gaining traction on the social media, using it to reach potential remote customers.
“When I started, I was doing one-on-one. I would drop my kids to schools and would move round. I later discovered that I could use the power of the social media to reach more people. That has been the game changer for me in terms of reaching customers. I use Facebook, Instagram platforms to reach customers. We get referrals from people using our products. So the awareness is better than before,” she further says.
She is reaching new partners to ensure that her products are in every nook and cranny of the country, including at retail shops around the country.
She is also open to potential investors.
“There is potential in the business. The natural skin care business is worth billions of dollars. So, it is an avenue for investors to make money. The return on investment is over 50 percent. So, if we can get the right investment, we will go places,” she notes.
Her piece of advice to younger entrepreneurs is to not give up.
“Once you have a clear understanding of what you have for yourself, irrespective of the challenges or environment, stick to it. Over time, you will make headway. When I started, I did not know I would get to this present level. I was not sure, but I knew the future was bright. So they should just keep working hard.”
ODINAKA ANUDU
