Exploring opportunities in Africa

Portia Mngomezulu, overall winner of the department of agiculture’s 2018 Female Entrepreneur Awards, founded Portia M Skin Solutions, which manufactures skin care products using marula oil. She spoke to Jeandré van der Walt.

How did you experience the trading and production environment in 2018? We had a very successful production year regardless of South Africa’s tough economic environment. We managed to grow our trading and production by 60% over the past year, as more and more people are trying out our products and becoming aware of the immense healing benefits that marula oil offers all skin types.

We weren’t affected by the drought as marula is adapted to dry and hot weather conditions.

Wh at challenges did you face in 2018?

Distribution was one of the biggest challenges we faced this year as we didn’t have our own transport.

Initially, we delivered our products from store to store, but it was expensive and time-consuming. This problem was solved when we acquired a truck and two vans to supply our products directly to our clients’ distribution centres.

Wh at opportunities does 2019 hold for you?

In 2019, customers will have better access to our products. Since we increased our production and trading, we have managed to access more retail stores. In addition to South Africa, my products are also available in Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. I will be exploring new markets in Africa, such as Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana and Rwanda, in 2019. • Email Portia Mngomezulu at tshidi@portiamss.com.