Producing hair and beauty products with  impepho

Consumed by boredom while stuck in her flat in Cape Town at the height of the COVID-19 one evening, Namhla Dotwana had a light bulb moment that gave birth to a blossoming start-up.

Dotwana, 31, founder of Namhla Collection, recounted her journey to Vuk’uzenzele.

Namhla Collection is an innovative organic skincare range business based in Egotyibeni village in Tsolo, in the Eastern Cape.

The start-up journey began when Dotwana remelted an old cinnamon-scented candle deformed by harsh sunlight on her window sill.

When the media relations practitioner’s contract with the City of Cape Town’s social development unit lapsed at the end of 2020, Dotwana packed her bags to set up shop in her mother’s garage in Egotyibeni.

“I make cosmetics and home spa amenities using our South African traditional indigenous sage,” she gushed.

Her love for organic skincare products started when she had skin problems as a teenager which included oily skin, pimples, and darkening of areas such as the neck. 

“My business model is bioprospecting, which is the search for bioresources that can be developed into commercially viable products for the benefit of society.”

She said she harvests sage (impepho) in the foothills of the village and infuses them into her 12-product range.

“The herb has anti-inflammatory properties to heal wounds, scars, pimples and other skin ailments issues,” she said.

In some African customs, sage is burned in sacred spaces to communicate with ancestors.  

Almost three years later, the ambitious entrepreneur has a clear path.

“A thought struck me that ‘actually, why don’t we have impepho candles?’ Because in the African culture, spiritually, whenever we light up impepho, there is always a candle. I thought, ‘how about we combine the two into one?’ That was just one wildfire of ideas that came to me,” she said.

From there, she began researching the plant’s benefits for the skin.

“I started making soap and hair treatment,” she recalled.

“The last bit of training I have on chemicals was in high school in Grade 11. It’s all just experimenting with how to infuse the herb into products and I started buying some raw materials and experimenting on my own. I’m self-taught from the internet.”

Her suppliers, she said, also shared recipes that she customised.

She describes her decision to move back home as the best she could have ever made.

“It (the business) started to flourish at the [low point] of my life after my contract had lapsed with my then employer,” she said.

Today, Namhla Collection sells 12 products in her online shop. The products range includes candles, hair treatments, soap, towels, and bath salts.

Support from SEDA

Despite venturing into uncharted waters, Dotwana said she was unfazed.

She decided to approach the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) for assistance through their mentorship programmes for small businesses.

Dotswana acquired the assistance of a SEDA business advisor and received crucial non-financial assistance from this organisation.

“That’s how I ended up pitching in the SEDA national leg of the Pitch for the Funding competition. It started provincially, where I came in second,” she admitted.

In this regard, the top three provincial winners compete nationally for the grand prize. It was here that she came out tops, bagging a R1 million cash prize in 2022.

Her ultimate plan, was to grow the herb in greenhouses.

While Dotwana is currently the only employee in the business, plans are afoot to change this.

“This year I have plans of getting more hands involved, to transfer the skill and because the demand is starting to overwhelm me. I need someone I trust, to train and make sure that they produce the quality that I produce as well.”

She also explained that her  prize money will be used to purchase industrial machinery to grow her business and a greenhouse to grow the sage.

Small businesses which are interested in taking part in the SEDA Pitch for the funding competition should visit their nearest SEDA office.