Portiah's home-made skincare products a hit with customers

Portiah Mokgathong, 28, exhibited her homemade skin care products and scented soaps at Riverwalk Mall in Gaborone on the eve of Valentine’s Day.

Trading under the business name, Laedy-P Organics she sold her products in the form of a Valentine’s Day gift basket for P400. The products include soap bars, shower gel, bath salts, hand & body butter lotion and scented candles. The feedback was quite amazing.

People bought a lot of her stuff and to this day continue to call for more deliveries. She is active on all social media using her company name Laedy-P Organics. Portiah’s passion for making skincare products and candles all started as a hobby. Her interest was borne out of a concern over products she applied on her skin. A health fanatic that she is, she always wanted to make the right choices even for the environment.

She registered her company in early 2015 but ever since she’s been giving out her products as samples and also tested some at home. She has had no formal training in her line of business but has attended workshops in South Africa where she learnt a lot on soap and candle making. She learnt about different skin types and which soaps and lotions to use on them. She operates from home without any equipment.

Although it is demanding and tiresome she is fulfilled when she sees the finished product. She uses a stove for cooking her recipes for soap and a fan or aircon to dry the soap after crafting it into her desired shape. She sometimes uses homemade products for her soap. These include among others olive oil, coffee, bicarbonate of soda and lemon. Her soaps all have a special purpose on the skin.

For example Nourish soap, which is for very dry skin contains sunflower oil which forms a protective germ-resistant barrier and helps skin retain water. It also contains Shea butter for intense moisture, and avo oil, which soothes sunburn.

“Through many tests and tweaks I have built a substantial list of recipes for a range of situations. I’ve discovered that making my very own products is one of the easiest and most speedy ways to satisfy my creative urge”, said Mokgathong.

The biggest challenge she faces is lack of finance as the business is self–funded. The materials for her products; the packaging and electricity used in making the products are all expensive. But these will not deter her from growing the business into a fully-fledged workshop with fulltime workers.