Meet Blondie Okpuzor, unconventional skin care manufacturer
Entrepreneurs with high level of creativity and finesse are joining the beauty and skin care industry, introducing innovations that redefine the way business is done.
Blondie Okpuzor is one of such entrepreneurs who are not just manufacturing natural skin care products but do so from locally available raw materials. Blondie creates soaps, lotions and other beauty and skin care products using unconventional raw materials like ‘jollof rice’.
She is the chief executive officer of BathKandy, a beauty company that creates dessert-inspired beauty treats.
Blondie set up the company in December 2014 after a request from a friend to make something for her mum for Christmas.
After making the skin care products, she put the picture on her BB and there came floodgates of requests.
“I got about 50 orders,” she tells Start-Up Digest.
“I didn’t have any capital and didn’t even know what I was doing then. I was like making things on my kitchen,” she says.
Full of smiles, Blondie explains to Start-Up Digest that owing to the demand at that time, she decided to open a store in March 2015.
Blondie has an office in Lekki where she manufacturers these products herself, alongside a team of other young people.
She makes soaps, lotions, scrubs and home products such as candles. Her candles are unconventional and look like desserts. In fact, you are warned to keep the products out of reach of children, who can easily mistake them for cakes or desserts. There is also a caveat at the entry point, where adults are reminded that the products are not for the mouth.
The soaps, candles, lotions are regular products but they look differently, like ice cream soups.
“We have over 50 different types of soap. We infuse different things. We never had the same soap design twice. Every time you come, things look different. It is the same thing, but it looks different,” she explains.
“We have goat milk lotions, made from goat milk. We have scrubs made from garri, coffee, and chocolate,” she discloses.
“They are all manufactured here in Nigeria. I make them by hand and we infuse delicious things like oils, tea, chocolates.
“Recently we just made soap from jollof rice. We are using local ingredients to make them. We have found that there are a lot of natural things that are there for you, but if you don’t know or use them, then you don’t get the benefits. So, we merge science with arts,” she asserts.
She says that the products are all natural and perform different functions.
“They make the skin better and improve its quality, but they also give you an experience. So, they are not just like soaps you buy at the shops for N100, but they give you an experience.”
Blondie’s packaging products come from locally recycled materials.
As a mark of expansion, she set up a second store in Abuja in 2016.
The entrepreneur believes that her products are experiential and for everybody, including men.
It was easy for Blondie to go into this business owing to her allergies.
“I am allergic to a lot of things. There was a time in my life when I couldn’t use the normal soaps and normal lotions. So, I had to start mixing things, like mixing shea butter with coconut oil, things you find in your house. And they helped. Even water would irritate my skin. So, I had to create things that worked for me,” she recalls.
Since she started, the market response has been great, with orders coming from various parts of Lagos and even outside Nigeria.
“We sell internationally now. We do have a lot of international demands and we can get across to buyers in five business days,” she states.
“We are looking more internationally. We are looking at Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, because these are the biggest beauty markets in Africa.”
Before the entrepreneur started this business, she had worked in multinationals, including ExxonMobil.
“I have always been an entrepreneur. I always knew eventually that I was going to work for myself. I didn’t know what. Even at a younger age, I produced make-ups, and at a point, I started doing luxury and hospitality. I always liked to be busy,” she says.
“I literally stumbled upon this business,” she adds.
The skin care producer believes that there are many people who want things that are natural, healthy and environmentally friendly, which means that opportunities in the industry are huge.
Currently, there seems to be rush into the beauty and skin care business. What is driving this?
“It looks easy,” she answers.
“People think you get three things, mix them together, and you get the products. But Nigerian women are obsessed with beauty. So, there is a ready market,” she further explains.
“If you get your marketing right, you will get people to buy. But it is easier to make people buy, but it is more difficult for you to get them work for you and keep telling other people.
“If you tell me I will be white in three days and in three days I am not white, I will not come back to you. But if you tell me that, and I turn out to be white in three days, I will tell others. So you are creating a multitude of people that are marketing for you,” she points out.
Her business is personally funded, though she is in discussions with some interested partners.
The entrepreneur says she didn’t start the business with any money.
Though she sells her products online, she believes it is better to visit her shop in order to see, touch and smell the natural products.
Blondie says that competition is good for business, as it keeps everybody on their toes.
“We just focus on ourselves and what we do and why our customers love us. If you are giving your customers the best products at the best price, they will stay loyal to you. We are on top of our game.”
There have been cases where employees stole the ideas of their employers. Is Blondie afraid of this?
“People have tried,” she replies.
“We have had people who have done that in the past. What we found was that you can steal an idea, but you can’t execute it like the owner. This is a gift and you can’ steal a gift. But we always have a lot of checks and balances. Just like no one has been able to copy Coca-Cola, we study how they do it and we try to do it here,” she notes.
Like all entrepreneurs in Nigeria, she faces challenges.
“In Nigeria generally, people always want the face of the business to be there. I live in Lagos and manufacture here, but people would like to see me in Abuja. Sometimes it tends to slow down the whole process,” she states.
“We found that training has to be so good that the customers do not see a need for the owner to be there.
“If you are a manufacturer, you need power, and you always need to have a generator to manufacture. Also, getting the right staff is a huge problem.”
Blomdie mentors younger entrepreneurs through her BathKandy University.
“We teach people how to make skin care products and start their own business. What we have found is that even though it is easy to start a skin care business, there are so many details that people do not have. Social media is a great thing. I have people who want me to mentor them and I do that. Everything I learnt was literally trial and error, so I won’t like others to go through that.”
The entrepreneur has some pieces of advice for young entrepreneurs.
“Just do it,” she says.
“It is OK to fail. We are in a culture where we don’t celebrate failure, but I think we should celebrate failure because that is the only way to learn,” she says.
“You find some entrepreneurs at the beginning of their business looking for someone to give them $50,000. Most likely, it is not going to happen. But if you build something to a particular level and you want someone to give you money, it becomes an easier conversation,” she concludes.
ODINAKA ANUDU