Neo Chatyoka is the Founder of Uhuru Botanicals and makes her own skincare and haircare products using the purest Shea Butter as the base ingredient and combining it with natural botanical oils. (www.uhurubotanicals.co.uk). Here is how she launched her successful product-based business from her garage and how you can too:
Neo Chatyoka
When I was growing, there was nothing I looked forward to more than spending my school holidays with my grandmother in the South African countryside. When I was there, I could be myself, explore nature and I had a real sense of freedom, which I did not have in the usual closed off city where I lived with my mother.
It was the love of nature that inspired me to seek a more natural and organic solution to my daughter, Lulu’s eczema and breaking and balding hair problem. Unable to find anything that worked, I began making my own products, using the purest shea butter as a base ingredient, and combining it with natural indigenous African botanical oils. I developed the Chebe Hair Butter as a solution to Lulu’s previously dry scalp, breaking and balding hair. This hair butter really improved Lulu’s hair. I just wanted Lulu to enjoy her natural kinky hair, so that she can feel confident and free to be herself.
What began as a way to soothe my daughters’ skin and grow her hair, soon saw the garage at my home in Walsall, transformed into a production line for Uhuru Botanicals, which has now grown to a product line of nine products.
Two of our products went on to win the Beauty Shortlist Award in 2020 and the Chebe Hair Butter has been the most popular product in our range. The Chebe hair butter was launched during lockdown in October 2020. We unveiled it after a year of research and using it on my daughter’s hair and seeing a significant difference in the length, health, and strength of it.
It is now sold and fulfilled by Amazon, and it is “Amazon’s Choice” of hair butter. It is being snapped up by members of the BAME community, where their hair is more dry, brittle, and prone to tangling. We are now working on developing a shampoo and hair conditioning bar, for people who are ethically conscious, as it will eliminate the need for any plastic packaging and free from animal cruelty.
I started Uhuru Botanicals because I had lost my voice. When I became a wife and a mother, I felt like I lost who I was. However, with an incredibly supportive friendship group who were my product testers and cheerleaders. I began to make strides and Uhuru Botanicals started to grow and I now have my first employee. The aim is to have our products stocked by mainstream retailers, to satisfy conscious consumers who are demanding more natural and organic products. Having a garage as my working environment has been the biggest blessing as it has been a refuge and a place to escape the pressures of lockdown.
“Uhuru” means “Freedom” in the Kenyan dialect of Swahili, which is apt, because creating the products took me back to those much longed for school holidays at my grandmother’s house, where I could explore nature and just be myself. I can honestly say that I am much happier now that I am able to help others, through my product formulations, to be free to be themselves.
If you’re thinking about launching your own product, here are seven easy steps that I followed, to launch one:
1) I had a problem that I needed to be solved but couldn't find a solution for and knew others also had the same problem
2) I researched the options as to what could be possible
3) I talked to mums and others in the BAME community to see if a new product would help them – thankfully, they said it was much needed!
4) I set about thinking what I wanted the ingredients of my products to be (it was important to me that they were all natural) and I sourced them and made my product, safety testing along the way
5) I created the brand for the product to align with the branding on my website
6) I had a few loyal testers feedback on what they thought of my product before it was given the full sign off
7) I approached Amazon to get my product stocked - and because sales are so good - they now fulfil the hair butter orders for me
These are easy steps that you too can follow if you're thinking about starting a product-based business. But remember, that the initial research stage is the most important and can't be skipped. Best of luck if you're planning to launch a product - anything is possible!