An Eastern Cape businesswoman and founder of a thriving beauty and skin care products company has gone global with her natural healing products.
Inspired by her grandmother’s simple natural remedies in Butterworth, Ntshantsha Tafeni decided to create her own products and has the backing of international businessman Richard Branson.
Coming from humble beginnings Tafeni opened her first retail store, Yivani Naturals, on Wednesday in Melville, Johannesburg making her long-term dream of owning a brand a reality.
After two years of receiving mentorship from the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg, Tafeni has also broken into the UK market.
She sells her products through a distributor in London and online via website Equal World.
Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch yesterday she said her grandmother had inspired her passion for herbs and natural healing.
Although she started the work in 2009 she said it was only now that the world was opening up to her.
“When I grew up my grandmother had a cure for everything and she got it from the garden. For flu there was umhlonyane (African wormwood), for tummy problems there was aloe. She also used impepho (incense) and other herbs which helped us, but when I grew up I stopped those and used Panado leaving natural healing behind,” she said.
After years of gaining experience as a brand manager from working for many companies including Nestlé, Parmalat and Edgars, Tafeni said she knew she would eventually start her own brand.
“I didn’t want to join someone as I would not feel like it was mine. In 2007 I resigned from my job and a colleague and I started Yivani Naturals as we were passionate about natural herbs and pure essential oils.”
The company now has a strong consumer base in Nigeria, Liberia, Lesotho and Uganda.
Her first export to the UK came when she branched out from making pure essential oils to cosmetics.
“We now make massage oils, body butter, face creams, herbal mixture for detox and shea butter amongst other products. We are finalising contracts in Zimbabwe, Ghana, India and I’m really proud.”
Her colleague resigned in 2012 and since then Tafeni has been driving the business alone with help from government empowerment programmes for small, medium and micro-sized enterprises.
“We learnt that people had stopped using the old ways because they did not have access to it and also there was some stigma attached to our indigenous ways of doing things.
“People who used those herbs were looked down on in our society and so we had to change our approach and packaging to attract them back,” she explained. —mamelag@dispatch.co.za
Tafeni shows healing touch
Inspired by her grandmother’s simple natural remedies in Butterworth, Ntshantsha Tafeni decided to create her own products and has the backing of international businessman Richard Branson.
Coming from humble beginnings Tafeni opened her first retail store, Yivani Naturals, on Wednesday in Melville, Johannesburg making her long-term dream of owning a brand a reality.
After two years of receiving mentorship from the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg, Tafeni has also broken into the UK market.
She sells her products through a distributor in London and online via website Equal World.
Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch yesterday she said her grandmother had inspired her passion for herbs and natural healing.
Although she started the work in 2009 she said it was only now that the world was opening up to her.
“When I grew up my grandmother had a cure for everything and she got it from the garden. For flu there was umhlonyane (African wormwood), for tummy problems there was aloe. She also used impepho (incense) and other herbs which helped us, but when I grew up I stopped those and used Panado leaving natural healing behind,” she said.
After years of gaining experience as a brand manager from working for many companies including Nestlé, Parmalat and Edgars, Tafeni said she knew she would eventually start her own brand.
“I didn’t want to join someone as I would not feel like it was mine. In 2007 I resigned from my job and a colleague and I started Yivani Naturals as we were passionate about natural herbs and pure essential oils.”
The company now has a strong consumer base in Nigeria, Liberia, Lesotho and Uganda.
Her first export to the UK came when she branched out from making pure essential oils to cosmetics.
“We now make massage oils, body butter, face creams, herbal mixture for detox and shea butter amongst other products. We are finalising contracts in Zimbabwe, Ghana, India and I’m really proud.”
Her colleague resigned in 2012 and since then Tafeni has been driving the business alone with help from government empowerment programmes for small, medium and micro-sized enterprises.
“We learnt that people had stopped using the old ways because they did not have access to it and also there was some stigma attached to our indigenous ways of doing things.
“People who used those herbs were looked down on in our society and so we had to change our approach and packaging to attract them back,” she explained. —mamelag@dispatch.co.za
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