Durban - Rabia Ghoor never imagined that dropping out of school would lead to her becoming a Forbes Woman Africa Young Achiever at 21.
Ghoor, who started Swiitch Beauty, her own cosmetics line at 14, was nominated after attending the awards ceremony for three years.
The awards, held virtually for the first time, followed the 6th annual Forbes Woman Africa, Leading Women Summit, themed, Africa Reloaded: The Power of the Collective.
The awards honours some of the continent’s most impactful women, who inspire confidence, are leaders who advocate positive change, and are committed to economic and social transformation on the continent.
The other winners this year included: Isabelle Kamariza, founder of Solid'Africa (Social Impact Award), Professor Rudo Mathivha, the academic head of Intensive Care Services at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (Academic Excellence Award), and Ada Osakwe, the founder of Agrolay Ventures (Business Woman of the Year).
Prior to the announcement, Ghoor said she was nervous as she wanted the award. When her name was called out, she said she could hardly contain her excitement.
“I am chuffed to have received such a prestigious award. This is definitely not something my 14-year-old self would have envisioned,” said Ghoor, of Laudium.
For as long as Ghoor could remember, she was business-minded. While at primary school, she sold stickers and mini-buckets to her classmates to use instead of walking to the dustbin. When she became a teen, she took an interest in make-up, which she decided to turn into a business idea at 14. She used YouTube for research, learning everything that had to do with cosmetics formulation.
Ghoor realised that when it came to beauty brands, South Africa lagged behind in comparison to other countries when it came to the evolution and variety of make-up. She then decided to put all her efforts into creating an affordable local beauty brand that South Africans would be proud to use.
“I wanted a tech-enabled, affordable-priced and transparent beauty brand."
Her dad, her biggest supporter, loaned her R6 000 and invested resources into product sourcing, formulation, e-commerce, packaging, manufacturing and design.
Ghoor's business started off with an Instagram page and two products. She now has more 100 000 followers and several products.
She began to crowd-source and asked people what they wanted in a product. Ghoor then took their advice and for more than a year, she ran the business while still in school. She realised that she wanted to be fully invested in her brand and, with her parents' permission, she left school in Grade 10 in May 2016.
“By then, I was running the business as a side-hustle for two years. Given its early success, it didn’t take much to convince my parents to let me leave and pursue it full-time. My parents were progressively and incrementally supportive of my every endeavour as a business person. I owe all of my resilience and confidence to them,” she said.
Ghoor rented office space and dedicated her time to building her brand.
“When I started, there were not many beauty players strategically using the internet space to their advantage. I attribute the balance of its success (Swiitch) to creating products that actually do what they say they are going to do. Swiitch has amassed a cult following and engrossed the community through social media. I have incredible backing from our community and my team," Ghoor said.
She said there was no particular explanation behind the name, Swiitch.
“I was 14 and the word ’Swiitch’ sounded cool in my head and so I ran with it.”
While other businesses may have struggled financially during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ghoor said her brand did well.
“The pandemic worked in Swiitch’s extreme favour. It was the longest-standing internet beauty brand in the country at the time the world went online. 2020 was our best year yet.”
Her challenge, she said, was that South African consumers were averse to e-commerce.
“As a country, we are not trusting enough of the internet to make shopping online a day-to-day reality. Getting him or her to make that first purchase has been a major learning experience for me.”
She currently has 20 products in her line that include skin mist, serum and sunscreen.
“We try to make things that people actually need,” she said.
The most popular product is #BeachBrow, a brush-on eyebrow mousse that fills, fluffs and sets the brows in one go.
“It takes like 15 seconds. It looks great and it does not budge,” Ghoor said.
Her advice to budding entrepreneurs: “Try, to fail - don’t fail to try.”
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