AMAZI Beauty supports women through purpose and impact, packages its products locally and uses African ingredients. Head of Marketing Elsa Pallett talks about this gem and services offered at its Beauty Bars and selected Woolworths stores.
Glamour: What inspired the AMAZI business idea?
Elsa Pallett: We founded AMAZI Beauty as a social impact brand to uplift economically excluded South African women. Exploring opportunities birthed from our collective wisdom and buying power, we built an ecosystem that funds the start- up, growth and success of millions of women. The social entrepreneurs behind this brand, Divya Vasant and Lisa Mgcotyelwa, are navigating how to use commerce to bring about social justice. Most of us learned non-profits do good and for-profit companies make money. But social entrepreneurship challenges that by offering the world a new way of doing business: where inclusivity is part of our way of being. Our Rand-and- change philosophy is our impact framework, whereby every Rand a customer spends on self-care by purchasing a product or service, we directly invest in women of colour’s development through our AMAZI Academy, where we upskill and support women to learn, earn and grow.
G: What makes your products and treatments unique?
EP: Our ethos that money creates change. How we invest in our offering for you is important to us too. AMAZI’s products and services support an African value chain, from ideation to the finished product and delivery. We believe that if we can all become more conscious and intentional about investing, we can create real improvements because our buying power can mobilise change.
G: What’s the most rewarding aspect of your business?
EP: The purpose of AMAZI has always been to create change and impact for marginalised women of colour, helping more women become economically active and reducing the unemployment rate prominent in South Africa. The real reward is seeing AMAZI’s impact: women training at the AMAZI Academy free of charge and able to earn an income working at one of our Beauty Bars or by starting a micro-business of their own. Our customers believe in our mission because they intentionally invest in AMAZI, which motivates us to create the change South Africa needs. The support we receive from our loyal customers is remarkable. Without our AMAZI Tribe, we wouldn’t be able to create the change for women we desperately need.
G: What goals have you set for your business?
EP: AMAZI’s goal is to impact the lives of 2 000 women by 2025. This year alone, 4 255 women have trained in soft skills through AMAZI, 132 women have technically trained at the AMAZI Academy, and 123 women will be economically active in 2022. AMAZI has also aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, working towards gender equality, economic growth and decent work for young women.
G: Let’s talk about AMAZI Beauty.
EP: It allows you to care for more than just your skin. Produced with 100% nutrient-rich African-sourced active ingredients and sustainably packaged, this skincare range supports a holistic ecosystem that cares for the environment. Our natural products work alongside the skin’s innate intelligence for healing and restoring itself through active ingredients from plants that can withstand all that nature throws at them. Our brand-new skincare range is about being mindful and intentional at every step, from local production to recycling empty glass bottles. Our natural and vegan ingredients have all been certified and tested according to clean beauty standards. AMAZI Beauty contributes towards the AMAZI mission to empower economically excluded South African women. For every R1 you spend on our skincare range, we unlock more funds, and the total is invested into the skills development of young women of colour through our Rands and Change philosophy. So, you can refresh, restore, hydrate and protect your skin while giving a helping hand to other women.
G: What are your top sellers?
EP: Customers love Cleansing Me, containing nutrient-rich African oils, such as Kalahari melon seed and marula-nut, that deeply cleanses the skin and leave it soft and supple. This cleanser protects the skin against the effects of photo-ageing and rejuvenates its cells. Another favourite is our Hydrating Me serum, which contains key ingredients that work together to rapidly improve your skin’s hydration levels after just one application. If you’re looking for natural, glowy skin, Hydrating Me does the trick.
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