Startup Story
Christine Chama Mulolo is the founder and CEO of the Nailporium & More Beauty Salon in South Africa. She is a motivated entrepreneur who is changing the world of beauty with her company’s focus on natural wellbeing. Christine believes that her business can add value to every person’s wellbeing by offering a range of natural treatments. What inspires her as an entrepreneur is finding new ways to better her business and educate more women to join the beauty industry. As a Trainer, she voluntarily assists and trains women of colour to have a skill as Beauticians and to be able to work and earn money.
As a business founder, Christine says she started her business because her dream and hope is to train more women to realise their potential in the beauty industry and to be able to earn a living. She is a living testament that hard work pays off and a lot of women (women of colour) with humble beginnings need hope in order to realise their potential. She says, she is a woman, and she is for women.
LoA spoke to Christine about her passion for the beauty industry and it’s potential as a source of empowerment and skills upliftment for women in South Africa.
What does your company do?
Nailporium & More is a 21st Century Beauty Salon opened in 2019 and consisting of two branches, one based in the heart of Sandton and the other one in Fairlands in the Western suburb of Johannesburg. The business focuses on offering diversified beauty regimes. Our focus is enhancing the beauty of our clients/customers own natural nails and toenail reconstruction, but although we are nail experts and love working with hands and feet, we offer you the entire Beauty Regime. Have your lashes done or a wax while you are with us. We have a staff compliment of 8 including the founder who is very active in the business.
The business generates income and I buy the products. We make money by capitalising on ROI I.e., we ensure that we buy the best products and ensure that all expenses are covered in each individual product, as well as a profit margin of at least 10-30% on each treatment done. We buy other products like nail serum from our supplier that we in turn sell to our esteemed customers. So instead of buying the products cash we buy them on consignment, we then sell the products to our clients/customers and then settle the bill with the supplier. That way our cashflow remains fluid instead of buying and keeping stock at the salon that might not sell. We are actively looking forward to opening an academy in the near future and when finances permit.
“As a founder I started the business because my dream and hope is to train more women to realize their potential in the beauty industry and to be able to earn a living.”
What inspired you to start your company?
As a founder I started the business because my dream and hope is to train more women to realize their potential in the beauty industry and to be able to earn a living. I am a living testament that hard work pays off and a lot of women (women of color) with humble beginnings need hope in order to realize their potential. I am a woman and I am for women.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
As we know, the world is going green, and we are always on the lookout for vegan products which range from nail to skin care products. We are full supporters of cruelty free, and we avoid products with harsh chemicals.
Our target market are people with very busy lifestyles as the products are minimal lifting, low maintenance and bio compatible, causing them not to visit salons often.
We also specialize in a non-surgical ingrown toenail which gives our clients instant relief. Our toenail reconstruction is our utmost favourite treatment. This treatment is given to people of all walks of life who have lost their toenails due to injury or natural causes. This gives hope and brings confidence to our clients as they are able to walk out feeling beautiful.
“As we know, the world is going green, and we are always on the lookout for vegan products which range from nail to skin care products. We are full supporters of cruelty free, and we avoid products with harsh chemicals.”
Tell us a little about your team
We are a team of 8 including myself. 1 being the hairdresser and the other being the barber focusing on male grooming. What's so special about my team is that I had an opportunity to train each one of them myself, especially being the trainer and this means when you do treatments you will get the same feeling. They are all team players and hard working and without them I wouldn't be running the business successfully.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
My entrepreneurship journey had been very hard, especially that I started in 2019, lost my husband in 2021, and I am a mother of 4. Coming from a family of 10 and being the 4th born, entrepreneurship is not what my family advocated, especially my parents as they believed only in working for someone. However, having an amazing baby sister ( Kabwe Mulolo-Gondo) who has been an award winning entrepreneur for more than 7 years, she has been my inspiration and she has always been there for me even my darkest times. Hence, we managed to survive COVID because she has been my business mentor.
“What gives me satisfaction is being able to help another fellow woman to earn money and grow to achieve financial independence.”
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
The future plans are to open a beauty academy.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
It's being able to help another fellow woman to earn money and grow to achieve financial independence. As well as offering a feel good treatment to all our clients, bringing back that soft touch that has been lost in the industry.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
The biggest advice would be, when you have a passion for something you will always find a way to balance it out. Also never give up on your dreams.
Contact or follow Nailporium & More Beauty Salon:
Email: nailporium@gmail.com
Website: https://nailporium.co.za/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nailporiumandmore?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nailporium?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Why LoA loves it…
Many women entrepreneurs in Africa are driven to make a difference to people’s lives through their businesses, and Christine Chama Mulolo is certainly one of those women. She is turning her passion for the beauty and wellness industry into a source of training and development for other women, helping them to achieve financial independence through entrepreneurship. Inspirational! — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa