The energy and enthusiasm which La Toya Douglas brings to the promotion of Nature Wrap, her emerging hair care enterprise, leaves one with the impression that ‘wild horses’ will not stand in the way of her quest for entrepreneurial success. Perhaps it has to do with the more than likely link between her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from the University of Guyana and what she says have been her excursions into experimental probes in search of “products to maintain my hair.” Such pursuits, while altogether commonplace with image-conscious women assume a special significance when they are attended by the probing of a science-enlightened mind.
La Toya’s breakthrough ‘discovery,’ Chebe Powder, one of the most talked-about crazes in the global hair care industry, is possessed of properties that “coat, condition, and protect natural and fragile hair with each use.” Access to Chebe Powder has directly influenced her decision to launch her own line of hair products, Nature’s Wrap, last year.
It was her science background that led her to seek out her own hair care solution in the first place and armed with the ‘discovery’ of Chebe she proceeded to immerse herself in ‘experiments’ the led, inevitably, to her concocting her own line of hair products. “At the start of 2019 I began making my own hair product. it took me a while to come up with the name and my inspiration came from the fact that I really wanted to provide the best hair care experience for women who were having struggles caring for their hair and were seeking a natural remedy,” La Toya says.
The available evidence suggests that La Toya ‘got it right.’ Over the past two years she has expanded her line of hair care products which now includes a hair oil, shampoo and conditioner. Her goal, she says, is “to provide a complete package for all hair care needs.”
Nature Wrap, the establishment which she has created has afforded her a ‘real feel’ for entrepreneurship though one of her most important challenges has had to do with coming to grips with the running a business beyond her ‘laboratory.’ Her challenges are those that have become commonplace to local would-be entrepreneurs who have learnt through trial and error that business is not simply about buying (or creating) and selling. There are the dimensions of product refining, product presentation and marketing.
Unsurprisingly, some of her challenges, she says, include issues of shipping raw ingredients and empty bottles. “I have found it increasingly expensive to ship items in bulk. The taxes which these items attract are exorbitant. In order to secure a reduction in taxes I am required to have a Manufacturers’ License. There are no local mechanisms to promote the further growth of small business especially those that require significant amounts of raw materials and empty containers,” LaToya says.
The impediments to forging ahead with business growth, La Toya says, can sometimes be frustrating. Among other things, what she wants, , is the creation of an environment in which local manufacturers in the hair products, condiments and other sectors benefit from readier access to adequate quantities of customized containers. She believes that the rapid growth of businesses in the beauty industry can creates other streams of business that can not only reduce the operating costs in the beauty sector but can also create new streams of business (and expand existing ones) outside the beauty and hair care sector. But that is not all, La Toya says. “Because high costs also preclude the landing of raw materials in sufficient quantities, I am unable to readily make sufficient product to meet market demand. I spend more time waiting for raw materials to arrive than I spend in the actual production process. Where the batches of raw material are smaller the turnover is limited.” Beyond that, she believes that access to lands that will help to create a greater incentive for business growth among emerging entrepreneurs is a constraint that should be remedied if business growth is to continue.
For all the constraints, however, La Toya appears anchored to an upbeat outlook. “The market response to my product has been great, and I thank God that Nature’s Wrap has experienced significant growth, the covid-19 pandemic notwithstanding,” she says.
Nature Wrap’s signal achievement, up to this time, the Proprietor says, has been the encouraging growth in demand for her “number one hair product,” Nature’s Wrap Hair oil. What she regrets, she says, is that it was during this period of demand growth “that I began running out of my now number one product “Nature’s Wrap Hair Oil” which, she says, “aggressively promotes growth of all types of hairs.
Her market includes a number of relatives and friends, some of whom reside overseas. This circumstance, she says, has stimulated her enthusiasm for breaking into the international market. As it happens, for the time bring at least, her ambitions are restricted by her constraints.
