Leisa Gibson is acutely aware of the likelihood that in a society where a preoccupation with hair is now the focal point of women’s fashion, her involvement in the sector, as a hairdresser for the past fifteen years and more recently as the manufacturer of natural hair and body products, may well be positioning her for entrepreneurial success.
Leisa’s Hair Scalp Conditioner, manufactured from ingredients that include locally produced coconut oil, bees wax, olive oil and (imported) ‘essential oils,’ has found its way into the homes of some of her clients and into the Guyana Marketing Corporation’s Guyana Shop and a handful of other small local products. Rather than being just another ‘beauty product,’ her Hair Scalp Conditioner, she says, seeks to focus on common customer complaints including receding hair corners and scalp conditions. She says that the number of repeat customers attests to the effectiveness of the remedies. The ‘clinics’ during which she addresses hair ‘issues’ usually take place at her place of business, 66 Mitchell Street, Section B, Pattensen, East Coast Demerara.
For local manufacturers marketing has been a mountain which they are yet to climb. For Leisa it has been no different. Her product promotion has been confined mostly to attendance at public events like fairs and exhibitions, her most recent outing being the recent Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association’s Uncapped event at the Sophia Pavilion. The rest of her sales come mostly through modest outlets in and out of Georgetown and through visitors to Leisa Salon and Beauty Supplies.