By Mosa Matela
Ntahli Mafisa has now entered the market with her founding of Sehlotho Hair, which is a hair care line that nourishes black natural hair.
It has a range of products that ensure that haircare is easy and affordable for clients who want to grow their hair naturally.
Mafisa is a promising entrepreneur with a drive and passion dedicated to empowering and inspiring Basotho women to feel naturally gorgeous. She does this through creating products that are made locally and are affordable with high range of quality.
Mafisa worked hard to balance being a part time student with working at a variety of salons in Maseru. After completing her part time studies, she quit working at salons in order to pursue a career in accounting and financial management. Still, she could feel that she has a love for hair.
“Eventually, I got formal employment and ended up walking away from the salon industry entirely, but I still acknowledge that I had a love for hair. Even before I worked in salons, I would braid hair, so the love and passion emanated from there,” Mafisa said.
When asked about the motivation behind Sehlotho Hair, Mafisa informed this publication that it all began with her struggling to find the right products for her naturally curly, woolly and kinky hair.
“This frustration sparked within me a desire for a new hair product that is tailor-made for people like me,” Mafisa said.
She then spent months researching and experimenting with different formula until she found the perfect one, which is nourishing yet keeps the hair feeling lightweight and is inclusive for all hair types.
From there, she launched her start-up which is marketed on Facebook, designed a logo and promoted her brand through a social media campaign.
She explained that things were moving slowly. But after giving away hair products to her friends and receiving manifestos and confirmations of improvement in hair after using her products, things began to change for the better.
“There were times were I sold nothing, but I did not give up. Instead, I reached out to influencers in the hair care community; partnered with salons so they can use my products and attended local beauty trade shows in order to get my product in the open,” Mafisa said.
Over time, her efforts paid off and Sehlotho Hair as it caused a buzz in air industry. People started talking about her products and before she knew it, they were being featured in major beauty publications and were being sold by distributors across the country.
She was highly disturbed by some traders who sell damaging hair products under her brand name resulting in her business being tainted
This has forced her to take on preventative measures that ensure that such things do not occur again.
“I would ask distributors to stop labelling their products as mine. Otherwise, I will take legal action if such people continue to copy my brands,” Mafisa said.
Other than that, cashflow has been another challenge. Before she founded Sehlotho, she had a salon that she had to close down due to financial difficulties. Therefore, she had to take the little profit she had and use it to finance Sehlotho Hair. She could no longer afford to pay her employees and advised them to be distributors of Sehlotho Hair.
When asked if she has any advice for entrepreneurs, Mafisa had quite had this to say: “Sometimes you might have to take a bit of a detour from what you want due to different short-term needs. Regardless of this, never lose sight of your dream.” She is now working on marketing strategies in order to grow her market.
In order to get products, one must get in touch with one of the many distributors across Lesotho and in South Africa. Products consist of shampoo, conditioners and hair oil. For more information, one can conduct sehlothoh@gmail.com.
