Local entrepreneur shakes up the skin care industry

This is a story about a vision, hard work, determination, belief, support and collaboration with various role players to make the dream a reality...

About 240 000 tubs and tubes of The PortiaMtm range of skincare products fly off the shelves off various local retailers every month. Thousands of users post testimonials on social media about how the South African manufactured products have helped their skin. The affordable range is stocked at Pick n Pay, Checkers, Shoprite, Game, Clicks and Dischem. With R35 million in sales from 2018 being recorded and year on year growth of 20-25% being experienced since 2015, the company is ready for greater heights. With the recent South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) certification to SANS/ISO 9001, the company’s dream of expanding beyond the region is set to become a reality.

The company, Sibahle Skin Solutions was founded by Portia Mngomezulu in 2010. After discovering the incredible effects of using a marula oil product to reduce stretch marks following the birth of her first child, Portia needed to share her story and her products. Initially she began mixing her skin care solutions at home and sharing the products within her social circles. Within a few months the testimonials and photographic evidence of the products working on a variety of skins and skin type, Portia had the vision to commercialise her products. She has a day and night cream, toner, soaps, lotions, serums and body washes for various skins types in her skin care range.

Portia started at the very beginning. She began developing her products from her kitchen, moved into her garage and then rented out office space. Initially the products were sold within her social circle, however the demand grew and she then registered her company and trademarked the PortiaM brand. As a young, black female entrepreneur, there were various organisation to assist Portia launch her company and products. She learned about the commercialisation of her products and began to work on getting her products into retailers.

In September 2018, Sibahle Skin Solutions moved into their very own premises in Sunderland Ridge, Centurion, Pretoria. The new offices are more that 1500m2 and can make several batches of the skin care products at the same time. “The new offices give us the capability to increase our demand and to employ more people as we expand”, says Portia. Currently there are 33 people employed and the production plant is semi-automated. She says: “We are ready for the next growth step and having just achieved our SABS certification to SANS/ISO 9001, we are ready to take our products into Europe and the USA.

”SANS/ISO 9001 is an international set of standards relating to quality management. Implementation of the standards ensures that organisations put in the relevant systems and processes to ensure that there is quality management throughout the operations. Certification to the standard through SABS, provides assurance to international markets that the company has been audited and found to be operating according to the standards. “The road to certification has not been easy and we have tried for many years, however there were always audit findings that we have had to fix. Now with the certification achieved, it feels like the company I have created is finally ready to compete with more established competitors. I have the confidence to move into other markets,” enthuses Portia.

SABS has been with Portia since her early days when she was still making products on her hot plate and looking to test her products. The SMME department has been assisting her throughout the journey guiding her towards achieving certification. “As difficult and as long as the journey has gone, the implementation of SANS/ISO 9001 has really simplified the way I do business. It has assisted with the onboarding process as the operational requirements are mapped out, the productions processes are documented and it has freed up some of my time to start expanding into global markets,” says Portia.

Portia is currently working on a baby range of products. Like her adult range, she has been testing her prototypes on her own children and is very excited about the effects. The products are currently in development.