Nonkazimulo Ngcobo

When I was a kid when my mother would relax my hair; I would cry from the relaxer burning my scalp and she would say “pretty hurts my child” and continue. I got used to healing the scalp burns after every relaxer treatment. Four years ago, I decided to cut my relaxed hair to grow my afro and that’s when I realized that I did not know anything about my natural hair - from products to use to maintaining it. I then started my natural hair journey through trial and error and lot of research. I got good feedback about my hair, people started asking what I did and what products I used. Initially, I only wanted an organic skincare manufacturing business but after my natural hair journey, I decided to start with haircare.

Beauty, Hair Care, ManufacturingGirlTable AdminApril 20, 2022South Africa

Kealeboga Xulu

Early 2019, whilst developing a website for a client, I decided to conceive an eco-friendly blog which I brought to life. Soon after that, I had to think of ways I could make money and start a business. I did my research and found that eco-friendly straw alternatives were gaining momentum worldwide and decided to take a risk and introduce our products to the South African market.

Rania Elkalla

In 2010, I started to work my investigation into eggshells and nutshells into my thesis. I collaborated with material engineers, but my main concern was finding the right recipe for creating a completely sustainable and biodegradable material that did not rot or break down easily. Initially, I reprocessed the shells by combining them with synthetic resin. The resulting material looked great and was mechanically hard, but I felt guilty for using an artificial resin and not allowing the material to decay ecologically. Now, our process is different. Before disposal, the shells are collected, sterilized, dried, and then ground down. This material is then bonded with organic and biodegradable substances, creating a mixture that can be handled through different production techniques.

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