1. Can you tell us more about your business?
A. Masodi Organics is a Beauty and wellness brand whose products are a balance of thoughtfully selected natural and synthetic ingredients that are aimed at optimising efficacy, gentleness, and a delightful experience. The brand currently carries 3 Ranges: Hair Care, Skin Care, and Wellness. Each of these ranges has a wide set of products that tackle targeted beauty concerns such as Hair Treatments as well as Skin Care Masks, Serums, and Powders.
2. When, how, and why did you start your business?
A. Masodi Organics was started in 2018 with passion on the one hand and purpose on another. We started on a very small scale in the kitchen, and then grew the brand organically over time. It was started with the intention of bringing quality and thoughtfully made products that could break racial and gender barriers within beauty; a product for everyone. It was also a brand that was not shy in recognizing that black and brown people were not well represented in the premium beauty space visuals. And chose to particularly center them in this brand. As a brand, breaking barriers to create genuinely diverse communities based on trust and shared values starts with acknowledging under-representation and under-servicing.
3. What is your role in the business?
A. I am whatever the business needs me to be at any given point. This looks different from day to day because of what it means to run a small business. Some days I am on the shop floor playing the role of a manufacturing leader, other days I’m working with the actual Strategy and Ops Manager, Kim, doing operations work, others I’m a Sales Person, and so on. But fundamentally, my role is to ensure 3 key things: That Masodi has the best possible products we can make, that the products are selling well and that the organization and its people are functioning in a healthy, process driven and inspiring environment.
4. Where did you study and what did you study?
A. I studied Bachelor in Engineering (Industrial) at the University of Pretoria.
5. How did you finance your business?
A. I financed Masodi Organics from my pocket when I started. The revenues from sales generated at the time would always be reinvested into the business. When we scaled for retail, I took a loan from a funding agency that has helped us with our scaling initiative. I also entered the Momentum Budget Speech competition in 2021. I was chosen as one of the winners who received a shared cash prize. Initiatives like that are very helpful in terms of financing a growing business that is typically overlooked for funding.
6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists?
A. My day starts as soon as I wake up and check my phone. I’ll glance through my emails just to get a sense of anything new I have to anticipate for that day. I also usually check our sales stats for the previous day quickly without getting into any details. I’ll then get to the office and make a cup of tea then jot down my to-do list for the day and highlight any priorities. If there are any quick check-ins to be done with my colleagues, I also prefer to get those out of the way before we all get into our workday. Since then, the days really differ.
I could go to the manufacturing floor to make some products with the team, or pack any large orders that are urgent (all hands on deck moments). I can be sitting at my desk working on our market entry strategy for a specific region, or reading up on market trends. Or I could be digging into our data and trying to make sense of the trends, or refining a pitch deck for a stakeholder. At times I’m out on the road doing supplier runs or store runs, or even something as random as doing a shoot for whatever initiative we could be involved in at the time.
7. How do you balance your home life and your work life?
A. I honestly don’t. I work at every opportunity I get, and I am trying to find creative and sustainable way to create that balance. One of the things that is looking to be helpful is playing tennis, and I think it’s because it’s impossible to be on my phone or computer while on the court. Anything that makes it possible to be on my devices does not pull me far away enough from work.
8. What drives and inspires you?
A. I’m driven by justice. I want to see a world where people are free to express themselves as they wish to. To build an organization that helps free people from toxic workplaces. I want to build a monument of excellence, creativity, joy, and health for people to experience through our product offerings as well as through our employment practices. I want us to show that excellence does not have to erode souls; that true excellence is at peace and at home in itself.
9. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
A. I have my best ideas in 2 situations: 1) during problem-solving or discussions with my colleagues, my brain just starts getting excited with ideas. A small idea quickly evolves from what is being discussed to something bigger and better and way more exciting. 2) When I’m just sitting around doing nothing. My mind usually wanders off and starts thinking some really silly things, most of which are poking fun at the world and our norms. And from there, some silly idea would come up. If I think it’s good enough, I’ll jot it down in my notes to remember it sometime in the future.
10. Where and how do you market/advertise your business for sales leads?
A. We primarily advertise our products on social media. This was a function of how we started the brand and the resource constraints we had. Now we also do in-store advertising and promotions with our retail partners such as Clicks. This is incredibly important for us at this stage of our business because the retail game is a different one from how we usually operate on our e-commerce platform.
Having a good relationship with the Clicks team does help, and of course, issues will come up from time to time because nothing is perfect but the open channels that are there and the willingness to listen sure makes a difference. Advertising and promotions in this setting are also hugely collaborative. So it takes more than just one party to create a successful marketing initiative. We also have an email marketing tool that we also use to reach out to our subscribers. To share the latest news such as product launches, new retail partnerships, beauty and wellness tips, and so on.
11. What is next for your business?
A. Penetrate unconventional spaces and democratize beauty and wellness. Simplify beauty and wellness through innovative solutions. Go global.
12. What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs hoping to start their own businesses?
A. This is mostly applicable to those who have some sort of resource to start. If you find yourself asking for too much advice (too much being subjective of course), pause and ask yourself if it’s fear manifesting as caution. Get started and ask for help as you go. Once in motion, your questions to mentors and people who can help become clearer and this makes it easier for them to help you.
And to those who don’t have some sort of resource to start, I would suggest finding a trusted partner who might have the resource needed to build an MVP. This is an incredibly tough one because often times those who don’t have resources also don’t have access to networks, quite by design.
For more information visit the Masodi Organics website.
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