Portia M is set to become a leading skincare and cosmetics brand, renowned for its quality products made from locally sourced ingredients. Founder, Portia Matshidiso-Mngomezulu created the brand to offer authentic representation and challenge the dominance of multinational beauty brands.
“I realised that Portia M Skin Solutions was going to be a big player in the industry when I realised that most beauty brands on our store shelfs are multinational brands. South Africa needed representation; Africa needed to be represented,” says Portia. She then embarked on a journey to make the Portia M brand a brand to be reckoned with in the beauty industry.
Glamour: What were the key factors that drove you to focus on environmental sustainability and gender inclusivity in your product line?
Portia M: As a brand we are passionate about our environment and since we use mostly natural ingredients in our formulations it was important for us to use recyclable packaging while using ingredients that are not harmful to our environment. Our products are mostly unisex and can be used by both males and females, our products also work on all skin types under the African sun that includes, Africa, Caucasian, Indian, and coloureds.
Glamour: How do you balance strategic planning and operational development while maintaining your passion for skincare?
Portia M: Strategic planning forms an integral part of our overall operations, I then make sure to hold strategic meetings with my team yearly where we outline our strategy for the year, in this way, managing operations becomes bearable as we already have a plan on how our year will unfold. This then helps me maintain my passion for skincare as I get enough time to innovate, and research based on our strategic plans. I’ve also hired the best skills to run our departmental operations, teamwork is emphasised in our organisation as it alleviates pressure from individuals while allowing them to perform at their optimal capacity.
Glamour: What has been the most challenging aspect of developing your skincare products, and how did you overcome it?
Portia M: The most challenging aspect of developing my skin care range was funding to get the right equipment to produce the best skin care products. Through the assistance of the Small Enterprise Development Agency, I managed to get a grant that assisted towards sourcing the best equipment to manufacture our products. Another challenge was supplying stock in full while still scaling up our production processes. This led me to learn to negotiate favourable payment terms with retailers to manage our cashflow.
Glamour: Can you share an example of how customer feedback has led to a specific change or improvement in Portia M Skin care Solutions?
Portia M: Our brand prides itself in being the most engaging brand on social media with our customers, this has assisted us in knowing which products our customers want through their feedback on our current products. We look at all reviews as an opportunity to improve our product offering and an opportunity to formulate products that cater for our customers' different skin types. Over the years the customer feedback has assisted us in creating over 50 products in our range, and we continue to innovate as we engage with them daily.
Glamour: How do you envision your role evolving as Portia M Skin care Solutions continues to grow and expand in the skincare industry?
Portia M: I envision my role evolving to a more strategic position than an operational one soon, I believe I’m doing my best in empowering my staff to believe in the vision of the brand and what the brand stands for. I will continue to take part in innovation and growth strategy implementation at a strategic level.
Glamour: What advice would you give to other women looking to enter the skincare or broader beauty industry?
Portia M: Women need to believe in the power of their femininity and be bold towards the pursuit of their dreams. Because women are naturally beautiful beings being in the beauty industry is mostly a natural fit, I would advise that they empower themselves when it comes to the daily running of the business and have a team of mentoring experts around them. They need to persevere and be patient as building a brand takes time, and during that time they should allow themselves the grace to grow and make mistakes, most importantly learn from their mistakes.
Glamour: What ways do you hope to influence the broader beauty industry’s approach to sustainability and inclusivity?
Portia M: My Hope is influencing our customers to recycle the packaging as this will assist in preserving our environment. As a brand we also want to use more and more environmentally friendly ingredients. We are also working on waterless products that are oil-based for some of our lotions, we believe by doing this we will preserve the use of water which is becoming a rare natural resource. We are also becoming more inclusive by formulating more unisex products that may be used across the gender spectrum.
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