Startup Story
Natural haIr and beauty products are increasingly in demand, and in Botswana, entrepreneurs Bonolo Simon and Kefilwe Matake, founders of Fro’Niques, are building a natural haircare business to meet customer needs. The brand specializes in formulating homemade natural hair products for discerning customers who want to know they are using organic and plant-based ingredients.
LoA chatted to these two ambitious young entrepreneurs about their journey so far and their dreams for the future.
What does your company do?
Fro’Niques is a natural cosmetics and beauty company based in Gaborone, Botswana. It was started by two sisters, Bonolo Simon and Kefilwe Matake, in August 2019. It specializes in formulating homemade natural hair care products using organic and plant-based ingredients. We formulate a wide variety of hair care products like Fro’Niques Hairbutter, Hair Growth Oil, Curling Custard and Leave-in Conditioner, Nourishing Shampoo Bars and we also sell hair accessories like Satin Bonnets, Satin Pillowcases and African Earrings.
Our aim is to make the natural hair journey easy and fun because a lot of people complain that natural hair is expensive and demanding, that’s why we provide all these services in-house, from products to styling. Our mandate is to empower people and to encourage them to embrace and accept who they are, as well as to teach kids to be bold and unapologetically themselves. Hence we introduced one of our projects as a coloring book for kids called, “I AM MAGNIFICENT”. It is a coloring book that features beautiful illustrations of people with different kinds of hair from coily, kinky and curly.
“Our aim is to make the natural hair journey easy and fun because a lot of people complain that natural hair is expensive and demanding.”
What inspired you to start your company?
Fro’Niques was inspired by our love for Africanism, natural hair, and beauty. My sister and I keep and nurture natural hair and throughout our natural hair journey it was difficult to find the right products for our crown. By the right products we mean organic products that are chemical free with no parabens, silicon, and sulphates, hence we started Fro’niques as a way to close the gap.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
As kids growing up in the world where media influences beauty, we tend to get the picture in our minds that says your hair needs to look a “certain way” in order to be considered beautiful e.g., it should be straight or chemically processed. We’re tirelessly working to empower people to embrace and be proud of their roots, to know that there’s nothing wrong with their natural hair, it doesn’t have to be manipulated in any way. All it needs is the right products, which is what we offer at Fro’Niques. We want kids to grow up knowing that they are enough, their hair is beautiful the way it is.
Our products are made of carefully selected organic and plant-based ingredients that have countless benefits for the hair, and they are baby friendly. Fro’Niques is a home where beauty is celebrated at its core, that is why we provide all in house services from natural hair care products, to wash, to styling.
Tell us a little about your team
Our team is made of two young ladies who believe that everything possible as long as you put in all your effort, be consistent and intentional about achieving your goals. We are women who are self-made, we have made it a habit that we are going to provide the best quality services in our business, attend master classes and become experts in what we do. We shall in the future as we grow add other members to the team.
“Our mandate is to empower people and to encourage them to embrace and accept who they are, as well as to teach kids to be bold and unapologetically themselves.”
“We’re tirelessly working to empower people to embrace and be proud of their roots, to know that there’s nothing wrong with their natural hair, it doesn’t have to be manipulated in any way.”
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
We come from a family of small business owners. Our parents used to sell on the streets in order to raise us and pay for our school fees. That lifestyle taught us to be street smart. Through our parents we learnt how to create using our hands, how to deal with clients, learn negotiation skills, and I think those are the basics of being an entrepreneur. Learning that from a very young age helped us on our journey today. Bonolo holds a bachelor’s degree in Media Studies, specializing in Public Relations and Advertising which in one way or another helps us in the way we do our advertising strategies. Kefilwe on the other hand holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, both from the University of Botswana. Even though we hold these degrees, we did not limit ourselves, we chose to follow our passion and dream applying all the skills we have acquired from varsity.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Our plan is to be recognized not only locally but internationally and to open multiple stores all over the world.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
We are satisfied when we see our clients smiling and stating that our products work for them, and our hearts warm when we see a lot of people transition and going natural and embracing who they are.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Our last words to other women is that there is never the right time to get started. If you want to do something, then the right time is now. We are saying this because Fro’niques was never funded, we used our allowances to fund it and even up to today we are funding ourselves through our hard work. No one is going to believe in your dream more than you do, find a way, and make it possible.
Contact or follow Fro’Niques
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | EMAIL froniques@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it…
It is always wonderful to see young women entrepreneurs taking their passion and turning it into profit through a business they build from scratch. In the case of Bonolo Simon and Kefilwe Matake, their passion for natural haircare has seen them build an exciting beauty brand that is poised for growth. They understand the need to grow their markets, and by tapping into new markets such as natural haircare for kids, they are building their future customer base as well as their current one. This is definitely an exciting young brand to watch over the coming months and years. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa