With no education in cosmetology or somatology, Shantelle Booysen used her love for pedicures to create products that are now being exported to 34 destinations. She also employs about 2,500 people in the country.

Her multimillion-rand company was one of the first South African companies to successfully register its skin care range with the US Food and Drug Administration, the ministry of health in India and in the EU.

Using active ingredients in Elim Spa Products for hands, feet and body, Booysen has designed innovative systems that guarantee results.

“I loved a pedicure. The thing that irritated me was my feet were slippery in my shoes afterwards. I didn’t like that so I went to a cosmetic formulator and I asked them to create a heel cream that would stop my feet from being slippery,” she says.

Working with the cosmetic formulator, they produced a heel cream that put an end to slipping after a pedicure, had a pleasant scent and softened the heels.

Seeing the amazing results after using the product, Booysen sold it to a company, which at the time had 27 spas in the country. It did not take long for the company to introduce the product to its branches on the continent.

In the early days of her business, Booysen was assisted by the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) with the development of her website and marketing material. She also received financial training.

Later, through the agency’s Technology Transfer Fund, the business was able to buy a sophisticated machine that could package individual sachets of the products.

In addition, Seda assisted the company with access and the support to export to Germany, Greece, Spain and Holland.

“Seda came in with a massive financial investment. It is extremely expensive to export to Europe. There was no way I could afford to do that in the beginning without their assistance,” Booysen says.

– This article was originally published in the GCIS Vuk’uzenzele