Agobokwe Motsepe. Image: Supplied.
Raised by entrepreneurial parents, Agobokwe Motsepe had always been inspired by their work ethic for their hair salons and vowed to go into business with them one day.
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart and when I was in high school, I said I wanted to start a haircare venture,” said Motsepe, now 29, and co-founder and director of Essence Hair Care along with his parents Norman and Modiegi.
With a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Informatics from the University of Pretoria under his belt, Motsepe convinced them to start producing hair care products from their home in Johannesburg in 2019.
“We subcontracted our manufacturing, bought packaging, and filled and labelled products while watching TV,” Motsepe told Business Report.
Their initial target market was salons, using the Motsepe elders’ contacts from 30 years in the industry, but when the pandemic closed this sector, their plans changed to approaching retailers.
With Norman in charge of sales and Modiegi doing HR, Essence Hair Care continued to grow, expanding to a house in Hammanskraal before hiring factory space in Centurion.
“We hired an additional 10 staff and started to manufacture ourselves, although we still sub-contract some of our lines,” he said.
Motsepe said he lives by the ethos that before you hire a person for a job, learn how to do it yourself.
“We hired someone to handle the administration when I did not have time for sleep – getting a small business off the ground is tough,” he said.
When retailer Pick n Pay came knocking in early 2023, the Essence team moved into overdrive to ensure all health and safety certifications were put in place.
“We made our first delivery in March this year, supplying 40 stores. Within the first three weeks, we had orders from Pick n Pay stores nationally,” Motsepe said.
Since the partnership, the company’s capacity has doubled and they are ordering more raw materials.
“Seeing my products on the shelf is something else, this is what I have been fighting for - this visibility, this brand endorsement. When I posted on my Instagram to say the brand would be stocked in Pick n Pay, the number of congratulations and queries about where people could buy our products was incredible,” he said.
“Instead of dealing with independent stores, we use a Pick n Pay online portal, which notifies us when stores place orders. I print the order, send it to our warehouse where stock is picked, drivers allocated, and soon as the stock is out I invoice them. Technology helps to streamline the whole system, and we continue to build relationships and grow,” the young businessman said.
“I had to step up to the plate. It was a huge honour when my dad told me we would register the business in my name,” he said.
“We have 23 products across treatment and styling, mostly for ethnic hair but we also have products which are popular across the board. We are also exploring the wig and weave side of the business which is getting great responses, and are thinking about going into skincare in the future,” Motsepe said.
BUSINESS REPORT