Johannesburg - Popular natural hair-care products company Jabu Stone has expanded its impact on the South African hair industry by developing a mobile phone application designed specifically for hair salon entrepreneurs.
Over 20 years ago the founder of Jabu Stone Natural Hair, Jabu Stone, started a journey of entrepreneurship in which he aimed to change the way South Africans expressed themselves through their hair. He has dedicated himself to removing the stigma attached to dreadlocks or Africa locks and has developed the mobile app called Afrobiz for new business owners in the hair industry.
“I’m older now and my company has been around for more than 27 years so I need to empower the younger ones. I need to take what I learnt over the years and transfer it to them so that whatever challenges they face will be new challenges,” Stone, who is also known as “Mr Dreads”, told The Star on Tuesday.
Stone said the company developed the app because over its two-decade tenure in the industry he had seen many former “employees and mentees” who started their own businesses face challenges when trying to scale up their salons.
“One of them told me their business was busy but they were not seeing their money or profit. When someone says that, I know there is a problem with money management,” he said.
Stone realised there was a dire need for a tool to see where money was going in and out of a business. He added that the tool was also needed to assist with other day-to-day issues and would enable entrepreneurs to measure the growth of their businesses. “I decided to come up with an app that will cater for multiple things, including client appointments, stock-taking and management, and developing a client database,” he said.
The Afrobiz app was designed as a tool for anyone looking to step up their salon and keep track of their receipts and automate expense management.
The app includes key features such as a money manager to help entrepreneurs track expenses and income by category; goal-setting to allow businesses to reach saving goals while automatically updating their balances as they progress towards the goals; and financial reports which spotlight spending and income by date.
It also includes a portfolio platform designed to enable salon owners to build a visual portfolio and show their previous work to clients, and a client database which will help a company to manage clients, as well as client appointment scheduling.
“There are many things one learns in the world of entrepreneurship, but a universal rule is the rule of systems. With better systems, we have better businesses.
“I want to make sure our people are empowered with the tools, so they can grow into the African dream,” Stone said.
The Star