The Mandela University Africa Hub was established in 2024 to drive youth entrepreneurship and social innovation, starting with our Entrepreneurship and Incubation in Action students and young township entrepreneurs in Gqeberha and expanding this to the Eastern Cape, South Africa and ultimately to other countries in Africa. In the past year, the Centre for Entrepreneurship Rapid Incubator (CfERI) at Nelson Mandela University has incubated 42 small businesses over the past year, creating 96 jobs.
“I grew up in the Northern Areas of Gqeberha, where my mother had a tuckshop and my father sold clothing on top of his post office job, so I was exposed to small business ownership through my parents,” says Louw, who is in her fourth year of the Diploma in Management at Mandela University.
In 2021 she started her business, Naturally Nirvana Beauty, for which she produces and sells natural haircare products.
“I had the basics of starting a business, but my entrepreneurial journey really took off when I joined the CfERI incubation programme in 2022 in my second year, and I now sell online and on campus,” says Louw.
She was a national finalist in the EDHE pitch competition in 2022 in the general business category.
Why this business?
One of the key questions is: why this particular product and business? “The idea for my business is based on the fact that I have personally tried a lot of haircare products and I wasn’t satisfied with them.
"So I decided to make my own, using natural herbs and flowers as I am also a keen gardener and I grow many of the plants that I use in my products, including hibiscus, aloe vera, rosemary, mint and rose.
"I decided on the name Nirvana as I started doing yoga during the COVID-19 pandemic and Nirvana is a place of peace, solitude and nature.”
Upskilling
To advance her knowledge, Louw researched online and did a course on how to make lotions at InnoVenton on campus.
InnoVenton is a Nelson Mandela University research institute focused on product and process development, and it runs a number of courses.
In 2024 she successfully applied for the R100 000 grant per qualifying entrepreneur from the University’s Enterprise and Supplier Development finance division.
She has used it to grow her business and purchase additional ingredients online (as she cannot grow enough to meet the demand). As soon as she gets approval from the University, she will use a chunk of the grant to open her natural haircare salon on campus in a container near the North Campus residences.
Knock-on benefits
She now employs four assistants – two are part-time as they are students and two are full-time employees from her community. The salon does nails and hair and uses and sells Naturally Nirvana.
“Over the course of my incubation, I have learnt so much, including how to do all the required paperwork, registrations and accounts,” she explains. “I’ve also learnt other aspects, such as getting to know your target market extremely well, how to treat all kinds of customers well, and consistently give them quality service and quality products.”
In 2025 Louw will complete her diploma and she has applied to do her advanced diploma in financial planning in 2026. “I need to be very diligent about dividing my time between my studies and business as my aim from next year is to expand my market and get my products into different salons in the city.”
Read more in the latest BizYouth magazine, showcasing the pioneering work being done in advancing Nelson Mandela University as an entrepreneurial institution.