Inspirational Limpopo entrepreneur Matimba Makaringe is breaking dignity barriers between rich and poor profoundly impacting one perfume at a time. From the depths of her adversity was born a powerful visionary who is making a lasting impact on township folk across South Africa.
The 33-year-old’s journey began in the Nkowa-nkowa Township, outside Tzaneen, and it’s one of resilience and innovation. Since 2017, she has been working tirelessly to restore the dignity gap in South Africa so that even people with lower incomes can purchase quality perfumes to smell and feel good about themselves.
Matimba started her perfume-making business, Courageous Cosmetics, after suffering second-degree burns in a water bottle incident, and then suffering a miscarriage months later.
“After both these ordeals, I went out hoping to buy perfume to get rid of the smell of the burns and the blood that stuck with me. But I could not afford those perfumes, so then I researched it and began to make them myself,” she said.
She created her small business, and to make a dent in the marketplace, she had to think out of the box and develop new ideas while maintaining the quality of her perfumes. She delved into sustainability and innovation by using recycled bottles for her products and encouraging her customers to return their empty bottles for recycling. Through this, she is positively impacting the environment while still providing her customers with affordable, high-quality perfumes.
Matimba’s approach of using personalised branding and sending birthday messages and discounts to her customers has helped build a loyal customer base across the country and is accessible to everyone regardless of their economic status.
“It’s so rewarding when a domestic helper or construction worker walks into your shop and purchases perfume. They also want a good quality perfume to smell and feel good. This restores their dignity,” she said.
Matimba found her passion through her business and created jobs – with four permanent workers and 25 casual workers/resellers located countrywide.
But her impact goes beyond her products. She is also a motivational speaker, MC, and business advisor. She inspires people to pick themselves up out of depression and provides support to small businesses. She also empowers young girls and women by sharing her knowledge on how to start, grow, and sustain their businesses. Matimba is an inspiration to all women and girls who are going through tough times.
“My advice for anyone experiencing trauma is to pick yourself up, rebuild your life and ask for help along the way. Work on your mental well-being by going to therapy because only you can save yourself,” she said.
In ten years, Matimba hopes to expand her business into a one-stop shop for everything related to perfume making while distributing to all South African townships. She is paving the way for a better tomorrow.
This article was first published in Brand Icon Image
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Matimba Makaringe is a participant on Fetola’s Circular Economy Accelerator (CEA), a sustainability growth solution which empowers South African entrepreneurs to build successful, environmentally-sound businesses, in partnership with J.P. Morgan, the Embassy of Finland in Pretoria and Nedbank.
