Nosipho Mashele (19), a Retail and Business Management student, started developing her own make-up range at the tender age of thirteen.
Nosipho, who hails from Nkomazi in Mpumalanga, remembers that she felt incredibly self-conscious at the time and started to experiment with home remedies containing lemon and brown sugar, spending hours in the family home’s garage.
She did a lot of online research and developed a winning recipe that looked promising. “I dipped into my savings and bought the ingredients I needed and made a face cream for my personal use. The cream worked so well, I decided it would be a great business venture,” says Nosipho.
“I had to raise money by selling home-baked cakes and sweets around my township,” she adds.
After she tested the cream on potential customers and discovered that it was effective, she also noticed that many dark-skinned women struggle to find the right make-up foundation and added it to her range. The latter is called Beats by Lupho- 24-hour wear.
Since then she has also started a beauty studio, Beats by Lupho, in the community. The studio does not only sell the products but also offers related services, such as make-up lessons and make-up for special events, among others.
Her products are currently sold in almost every beauty salon in Mpumalanga.
“In the next five years, I would like my beauty studio to be one of the most successful woman-owned businesses in South Africa. I would also like to help many teenagers, like myself, who suffer from low self-confidence because of skin problems and cannot afford expensive products to treat it,” she concludes.