Home Events Natural Moisture Birthday Celebration | Thank you!

Natural Moisture Birthday Celebration | Thank you!

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

Natural Moisture group photo

Why am I only telling you of this now and yet the event was in April? Well, it was such an epic event and I also wanted to share with you the  Natural Moisture’s story. Well, just a bit of it. But I’ve been studying for exams so I could not post about the anniversary celebration earlier. After exams, I was so busy catching up with work things and only now have I managed to write about it.

Of course Joan was there. She has been part of my support system for so long and I appreciate her so much.

Well, it all started in April of 2013 when I formalised everything, opened a bank account for the business and started making products for sale. Then, I had a simple business plan and I was going to mainly sell Shea butter and some oils that I already used in my hair routine. Besides, the reason why I started Natural Moisture is to share the products I was using and mixing for myself in the kitchen. Let me remind you that, then, there were not much products in the shops that were specific for natural hair. Most of the African hair products were so full of mineral oil and you guys know that mineral oil is not really great on our hair. So, as a solution to this, most naturals, including myself had to make do with a lot of DIY. But not everyone is gifted in DIY and there was definitely a gap in the market. I wanted to create a solution. But, let me confess. I was kind of asked, maybe nudged a little to sell products and I took up the challenge. It wasn’t my great idea. It was an idea that a lot of my readers came up with and asked if I could make products for them as well. I took up the challenge.

Friends like these are for keeps

Natural Moisture has grown from strength to strength, from the small storeroom that was about 6 square meters big to a warehouse in Eastgate ext. 21 and now in Edenvale. When I look back to where we started from, I am always thankful to God for He has brought us so far. More than we ever thought to be possible. I thank you as well, the readers of Natural Sisters who have supported our business so much. As we strive to give you the best products and the best service, we are also grateful because you are there. Without you, there’s no business. You are the boss and you rock big time.  So yeah, thank you. I appreciate your patronage.

Tebogo, thank you for coming. It’s nice to know someone really appreciates your work especially if it’s someone you also admire so dearly

And now, we have been around for 5 years. Wow! what a milestone? Let me tell you now, that’s huge. Really huge. Being in business is the hardest thing I have ever done. It’s really hectic you guys! But no regrets. At least for now. I have learnt so much running Natural Moisture. You know, I didn’t sign up for most of the stuff  that doing business brought along with. Like the admin part, accounting, and don’t talk of marketing. It’s a lot of work. Managing people brings with it its own challenges as well. So yeah, after 5 years, I have learnt huge stuff. I was kind of pleasantly surprised as well when I was approached by this lady, an aspiring entrepreneur, back in 2016 and she needed a mentor. I was like, “really, me a mentor” Because I had been there before, I helped her start her own business and now she is all settled and often laugh about it when she calls and says, “Hello Mentor” Well such requests are coming more frequently these days and I have a few ladies that I am mentoring into business at the moment. I mean, why not? I’ve learnt a thing or two about business and I’m always ready to share that.

Some people are just naturals at being MC, Thanks to Tari for being such an awesome one

Natural Moisture Staff. Without which the awesome service and great products would not be possible.

Besides Shea butter which was our initial offering, we now have a lot of products that we offer on our online shop and in store in Edenvale. We also have a leave in conditioner called Shea Argan leave in conditioning styler which has become a darling for a lot of people. Most people tell us that it is the best leave-in conditioner they have used in their life. And I agree. Come on, what can I say? Of course our products are the best. We make them. He he he.

Thanks to Aisha for gracing the event and being the keynote speaker

We celebrated our 5th Anniversary on the 21st of April 2018 and you guys, it was epic. There was so much love, so much afro, so much talk and so much laughter. We had a good time. We had it at 22 5th Avenue in Edenvale where the shop is now based. We also officially launched the Natural Hair Salon, Nashe Hair Studio. We had such a beautiful time. There were a lot of friends present as well, people who have meant a lot along my journey and still mean a lot to me today. It was more like a reunion because mostly we still chat online but do not get together often. Natural Moisture is where it is today because of the help of these amazing friends. All the advice, encouragement, the tweeting, Instgraming and actually buying from Natural Moisture has got us this far.  Trust me. It means a lot to me and the business. My blogger friends also took the time to review my products and that’s like wow. Amazing. Friends like mine are for keeps guys. No matter how you look at it. Without a great support system, not much can be done with significant success.

It was great to talk to Matlhodi in person after a long while

I need to also mention my family, hubby mostly. He is Natural Moisture more than we care to realise because we don’t even give him a salary for all the hard work he does. But most of all, for the support he gives everyday, for believing in my vision for the business and being there all the time, being my best friend and critic, business partner and the most understanding and accommodating human I have ever known. Thank you so much.

What do you think they are talking about?

As Natural Moisture keeps growing I trust that we will celebrate another 5 years to make it 10 years in business and even when I am about to give up, I will look at where we have come from and remember all the effort by so many people to make sure that this business is a success. I will remember that this is not about me. I may be the Captain of the ship but there are a lot of people on the ship and I better make sure the ship does not sink.

Some people become more like friends after a while. Just remembering that in natural hair and blogging lies the friendship.

I tried to choose some real cute pictures to include in this post but there were so many which were so beautiful, I found myself with more than 60 photos that I thought should be part of the post. So, in the end, I made a slide show so that I could use most of the pictures. I hope you will like the slide show. If you do, please hit the thumbs up button. Have you subscribed to my channel? If you haven’t, please do subscribe so that you don’t miss any of the videos I put out. Yeah including slide shows. I may not post often but when I get a chance, I will always post. In between studying for exams of course. Your girl needs to study you know. Improve on knowledge and actually grow career wise. So, that’s past now until July when I write again. So, while that’s a little far away, well not too far, I will post all I can and actually get to edit those videos that I recorded and not had time to edit and post. This post is long already so let me end it here instead of going on and on. God bless you.

Here is the slide show

And some more pictures.

These young ladies were so refreshing at the event. Thank you for coming Shiloh and Victoria

Oh, nice to meet see you after so long. Thank you Ncomeka from Wooden Mirror the blog and Shereen from Nubian Nature for coming. Very kind of you

People were wondering who my make up artist was. Well, it was Kudzai. She is good right? Well, you can book her for your event or special occasion as well

We had goodie bags as well. Awesome hey!

Thank you Hope for coming. Meant a lot to me considering you inspired me to go natural in the first place

 

 

 

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