1. Portia Mngomezulu
Vital Stats:
- Business: Portia M Skin Solutions
- Established: 2011
Up-and-coming fact:
Mngomezulu, registered her business with only one product to offer. She took her business from casual sales to friends, family and Facebook acquaintances, to an entire range now sold in some of the biggest retail stores in Southern Africa.
A scholarship to study at the Gordon Institute of Business Science sponsored by Massmart changed her life on the same day she resigned from her IT job in 2014 to focus on her skincare business. Within a few months her product was in retail outlets countrywide. Today, she exports the marula-based Portia M Skin Solutions range to Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.