Startup Story
The rapidly growing global market for organic beauty products is one that Vuvu Organic Beauty, founded by Sandra Mauricio Vuvu, is now tapping into. Born in Angola, originally from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo DRC, and growing up in South Africa, Sandra’s passion for beauty and skincare started when she was 17 years old. She watched her mother have such beautiful fashion sense and the beauty products that she used made her want to know more about beauty herself. Sandra qualified as a beauty therapist where she gained more insight in beauty before launching her business.
LoA spoke to founder Sandra Mauricio Vuvu this month to find out more about this growing organic beauty brand.
What does your company do?
Vuvu Organic Beauty is a hair and skincare business that is handcrafted to suit your skin and hair. Our mission is to create organics products that nurture, soothe and heal skin and hair with harm-free ingredients.
“Our mission is to create organics products that nurture, soothe and heal skin and hair with harm-free ingredients.”
“Seeing my mother work hard as an entrepreneur motivated me into becoming a business woman and to expand my knowledge within the beauty industry.”
What inspired you to start your company?
Seeing my mother work hard as an entrepreneur motivated me into becoming a business woman and to expand my knowledge within the beauty industry. Vuvu Organic Beauty Started in 2018, in the kitchen and bedroom where I stocked up my product range and produced all my beauty products by myself. My motivation in starting Vuvu Organic Beauty began when I had very bad painful acne as I grew up, which became unbearable. I tried so many products that did not work, until I decided to create my own home organic remedy. I started with my Acne Away Serum and Tumeric Clay Mask Powder, and from there I then grew my range which focused on assisting women and men to look and feel beautiful. That is how Vuvu Organic Beauty started back in 2018.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
What makes Vuvu Organic Beauty product special is that it’s all handcrafted using 100% organic ingredients with clean manufacturing processes. We also value our client’s feedback in order to grow.
Tell us a little about your team
My team consists of me, the formulator, stock controller, and everything else. Just recently we added a part-time helper that comes in when I have huge orders to mix certain ingredients.
“What makes Vuvu Organic Beauty product special is that it’s all handcrafted using 100% organic ingredients with clean manufacturing processes.”
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
My mom has been my biggest inspiration and so was my late father Mauricio Vuvu. My passion started mainly seeing how my parents worked well together in their business in Angola whereby they created their own perfume brand many years ago when it was not accessible to recreate your own. Then, when we moved to South Africa, seeing my mom run one of the first Congolese Restaurants all by herself from cooking to serving to cleaning and stocking, before employing a helper once the business grew. After the death of my father, my mom started fixing tyres for a living to send us to school. Seeing a woman fight so much, I realized the power that we women have and that alone inspired me to look outside the box and see the blessing in my hands.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Becoming a global luxury African lifestyle brand that inspires everyone to embrace their natural beauty and is accessible to people everywhere.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Making women, kids and men feel and look beautiful using organic products.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Never stop believing, and when things get tough along the way in your business, just know that blessings are knocking so push harder. Business limitations start with your mind so stay positive and never allow a setback to be permanent.
Contact or follow Vuvu Organic Beauty
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | EMAIL vuvuorganicbeauty@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it….
Tenacity is one of the key requisites of being an entrepreneur, having the ability to take an idea or a vision for a business and turn it into a reality, despite the hurdles to be overcome along the way. For Sandra Mauricio Vuvu, tenacity is something she has inherited from her entrepreneurial parents, especially her mother, and today she is harnessing that tenacious spirit to build her organic beauty brand. Sandra is an inspiration to other women entrepreneurs as she works hard to wear all the multiple hats required to successfully build a beauty business in a competitive marketplace. She is harnessing her specialist background training as a beauty therapist and her understanding of the industry to now build a beauty brand of her own. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo of Lionesses of Africa