Mom’s perfume business sparks love for scents
Entrepreneur creates authentic African cologne
A lot of supermodels, fashion designers and stylists usually tell anecdotes of how they became interested in the fashion industry, and it usually has a lot to do with their upbringing.
Most will tell you how a particular aunt, mom or dad was very fashion forward, and eventually they were bitten by the fashion bug. Valentinas Methula is no different. It was being surrounded while growing up by his hard-working mother, who sold perfumes to make ends meet, that sparked his love for different scents. With this innate ability fully instilled, he managed to create his very first cologne, Valentinas Kafungo (VK), an authentic African premium cologne brand manufactured in South Africa.
But the journey was not always so easy. Trying to create a cologne brand without any background knowledge was a definite uphill climb. Then, trying to build credibility in an already saturated industry was met with resistance. But the 27-year-old, who was born in Tsakani on the East Rand, says he did not give up.
In fact, he says that in 2013 he realised that many people around him were making bold moves, and this set in motion the passion to do the same.
However, he decided to choose a different path. “Everyone was doing the same thing and I didn’t want to fall into that trap. I wanted to be different. I wanted to come up with something authentic from the township to the world,” he says.
“Initially, my dedication to making a cologne was probably out of the question for most people because I hadn’t even studied chemistry or science in school. [But], in 2013 I started doing my research and associated myself with relevant people in the field of cosmetics and chemistry. To be honest, the journey was really tough because I never had an income to fully do my research, and people I depended on got tired of what I was doing. I didn’t get much assistance, but I persevered.”
Finally, after overcoming all the hurdles, the VK Premium brand was born. Methula says the name is a combination of his middle name Valentinas, and kafungo, which is a translation for scent, translated from a language that’s spoken in Malawi called Chichewa/Nyanja.
Minenhle was the first cologne out of the VK gate, and Methula says it is the closest collection to his heart. “Minenhle means ‘A beautiful day’, which then demonstrates the birth of VK.”
An eye-catching element of the cologne is its packaging, made from handcrafted wood.
Methula says that getting it right was also not an overnight process. “The packaging was inspired by an architect friend, Fabio Lopez, from Colombia. The whole idea of the design was developed at Ekurhuleni Fab Lab.
“After working closely with Fabio, the process of bending and curving of wood piqued my interest, which was when I asked him to teach me.
“I then started developing my own patterns using the strategy I got from him. In my mind, when I was designing our packaging, I wanted to leave a mark and also tell a story of an African child by designing something Africa has never seen before.”
The cologne retails for R450 per bottle, including the delivery fee. It is delivered anywhere in South Africa.
His future plans for his business include branching out into different African countries. VK is available on all social media platforms.
Minenhle was the first cologne out of the VK gate