Nontokozo Mchunu

“There will never be a right time to start,” these are the words of young entrepreneur Mathari Manyisa who is a proud owner of an organic hair product company, Blended Inc.

The 26-year-old from Nelspruit says the successful business she has today was never planned.

“Honestly it was impromptu, it was not planned at all. I was just trying to grow my hair and I kept buying more products, I then started mixing the products and magic came out of it,” said Manyisa. She then was encouraged by a friend who tried her product to sell it.

Ladies with African hair types have the hardest time finding the right hair products, this is where Manyisa says Blended comes in as it contains no chemicals that have detrimental elements that destroy hair rather than keeping it healthy. Blended being organic is very important as it is for all African hair types including men and children.

The business owner has created a customer base online with the help of a brand ambassador and promoters. She also received help from radio stations such as Rise fm, Ligwalagwala fm and YFM. Ligwalagwala fm got her hundreds of clients and YFM is currently airing her brand adverts.

Just like any other business there were challenges along the way but consistency, hard work, prayer and supportive family members and friends were foundation to making her business thrive. Blended came at a time when she was also doing radio.

“My doing radio, doing blended really overwhelmed me at some point balancing was tricky. Getting funding was one issue and people offering to buy my business for an unreasonable percentage, some of of which seemed appealing and tempting. Product testing was also very challenging, expensive and took a great amount of time,” added Manyisa.

The young lady not only plans to get blended on shelves nationally, she also wants to have permanent employers to combat the growing unemployment rate in South Africa.

Picture: supplied