Natural haircare brand Nilotiqa has gone from being a small online store to being found in hundreds of retail stores across the country.
The brand, which was founded by Krugersdorp-born Thokozile Mangwiro in 2016, has partnered up with Sunpac, SA's leading distributor of top international brands such as Cantu. The company will be investing in and assisting Nilotiqa to have more products and more visible space in retail stores.
“I started selling online first for about two years. I would package the products myself and I was selling about 100 units a month. Now I have two employees and I am distributing hundreds of products to Dischem, Clicks and Pick n Pay. The brand is in about 400 Clicks stores, 100 Pick 'n Pays and 50% of Dischem stores,” she said.
“This was not overnight success, it took a while because we are turning six this year.”
Mangwiro, 41, now has an Afro but used to have dreadlocks which she battled to find products to nourish and look after her hair. “There were no products on the shelves back then before the natural hair movement, all that was being sold was relaxers,” she said.
She tried to moisturise her hair with products like coconut oil and shea butter but they were not formulated to sink into her hair.
“I decided to formulate products for my own hair. By 2014 I was doing a lot of research and I finally launched the brand in 2016. I got a lot of feedback that the products were amazing,” she said.
Mangwiro, who is an IT specialist by profession, took the risk to fully focus on her business.
“I jumped body and soul into the brand in 2017. Before the e-commerce took over, it was very expensive to deliver products. You would sell a product for R100 but the delivery fee was R120. I knew that I needed to be in stores,” she said.
She started talking to big retailers who told her that her competitors are big brands that are easily able to enter the natural hair market.
“The investment from Sunpac is important because they are not only giving us financial backing to make more products but they are helping with marketing and making sure we can compete with these big brands because they understand the intricacies of the business and retail but I am still the head of the brand,” said Mangwiro.
She said she hopes they continue to grow and become more visible in the natural haircare market.
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