SA Brands
33
Taking
South Africa to the world
In our annual focus on homegrown brands, we look at some that have successfully ventured beyond our borders into the export market.
Environ Founded in December 1990 by world renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Dr Des Fernandes, Environ today exports to over 60 countries. The brand’s USP is based on vitamin A as the cornerstone ingredient in the Environ philosophy. Says Environ CEO, Val Carstens: “In the beginning, it was quite challenging to learn and meet all the regulations needed to export Environ to many countries,
as there were no cosmetic companies in South Africa doing R&D and manufacturing, as well as exporting to countries like Japan, US, UK and Europe. The fact that we have so many active ingredients made formulating challenging, as was the registration of the product in many countries. We did not have the capital to brand our product so relied heavily on word of mouth to consumers. “Eventually, I realised that we needed to start the journey of branding the product and employed a marketing manager who gave of her best with the little cash available at the time. Today I am proud to say that we have a complete brand and marketing team delivering the brand message to market and ensuring that we keep contemporary and exciting, while always delivering the science and results we aim to
achieve with each and every product developed.” Pictured is Environ’s Skin EssentiA range, which is offered to the global market.
DermaFix In 2006, the shared vision of Rosalie Neto, Dave Neto and Ursula Volbrecht led to the creation of the DermaFix Cosmeceutical Skin Care brand, with exports to South Africa’s neighbouring countries commencing the same year. Says Volbrecht: “The main criteria we encountered included export compliance, >
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