Cosmetics company takes root in Kya Sand
KYA SAND – A sustainable and unique approach to the beauty business and community development from international business Florratt Cosmetics.
While rapidly evolving into an international manufacturer of personal care products, a woman-owned organisation has provided amazing employment opportunities to many South Africans.
With the swelling numbers of jobless people in Southern Africa, black women in particular continue to be over-represented among the poor. They remain the most vulnerable to lack of jobs, according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, with their unemployment standing at 31.1 per cent.
Personal care products and functional cosmetics manufacturer Florratt Cosmetics has continued to make a difference by creating decent and dignified jobs for its team of mostly female employees, many of whom are sometimes the sole breadwinners in their families.
“When you create employment for women and grow their skills, you empower people and uplift communities,” said founder and CEO Mampho Tjabane.
What makes this venture different is that it is manufactured locally, coupled with global distribution. The direct-sell business model offers thousands of women entrepreneurial and opportunities to generate income.
Today the company has employed more than 50 factory staff, 90 per cent of them women, and has a further 12 000 multi-level marketing members across Africa and the world.
The use of indigenous plants and traditional expertise has been promoted to improve skin and hair health at the heart of Florratt Cosmetics’ business.
Although people are often unaware of the uses of wild plants and flowers, they have been used for centuries for medicinal and beauty purposes. At Florratt Cosmetics, two in particular have provided the raw material for the business’s success: rosehip (known in Lesotho as ‘morobei’ and the cactus (known as ‘torofeie’).
Founded by Mampho Tjabane in 2015, Tjabane began operations from her home in Maseru in Lesotho, and soon opened the first Florratt Cosmetics factory and the second factory soon launched in Kya Sand in Johannesburg, with a new one being launched at the MAP SEZ in Harrismith, Free State.
The organisation has grown into one of the leaders in the cosmetics sector on the continent, supplying products from South Africa and Lesotho, various other African countries, and further afield to India, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
