3 minute read
THE HOLISTIC BUSINESS OF HAMBELELA with Victoria Hambelela Toivo
THE HOLISTIC BUSINESS OF HAMBELELA
Since the age of fourteen, Victoria Hambelela Toivo has had a mind for business. When an idea for her own business presented itself, this young Namibian entrepreneur started Hambelela Organic – with nothing but her mother’s wisdom.
Victoria’s products are now used by small enterprises in the manufacture of soaps, creams and other beauty products. “We are wholesalers, trading as Hambelela Organic. The products we wholesale are your essential oils, carrier oils, organic butters and waxes, and then also clays and emulsifiers, and dried herbs and spices,” explains Victoria.
“My mom is into medicinal and herbal products, and I wanted to start making my own skincare products,” Victoria notes, adding that it was while looking into developing products for her own use that she uncovered a gap in the market. “The resources are hard to find, so I did more research and I found producers who make these natural products, but don’t sell to individuals.
Victoria explains the path she took to being a business-owner at the age of twenty-four. “I’m an artistic person and I initially wanted to study architecture and civil engineering. But I’d had a little business ever since I was fourteen, so I’m exposed to being independent. I decided in 2015 to create something for myself after completing my degree in marketing. That decision was one of the contributing factors in growing my business.
Now Victoria has big plans to localise her business. “I want to do as much as I can to enable myself to set up my own distillation factory. There are a lot of producers within Southern Africa, but there aren’t a lot of factories where one can distill raw products.”
As a female entrepreneur with a growing business, Victoria is aware that the industry she has entered can be challenging for women. “In this type of market – essential oils – there are certain barriers if you are female. I’m planning on setting up my own place, a little farm where I harvest, dry herbs and that type of thing, but it’s been hard to be able to get land.”
That shouldn’t discourage other entrepreneurs from starting, Victoria says. “Use the little that you have to create something. Then, with what you get, try to
WITH VICTORIA HAMBELELA TOIVO
reinvest that so that you can do bigger and better things. You
shouldn’t wait for certain things to happen or for someone to come along and provide you with something. Just start with what you have.
Victoria says the best advice she ever received was from her mother. “She always says just keep pushing, even if somebody says something negative about your business. There are times when you feel you are doing so much but you don’t see the results, but the more you keep at it, the more you grow personally. You learn a lot of things, such as critical thinking, being disciplined and also helping others.
“The best moments are seeing people’s reactions, and also seeing how people make certain things out of the products – because that was my initial idea, to have people making their own products and having a more holistic approach to their lives. I know I’m contributing something to someone’s life.” Promoting her clean-living and empowered view of life, Victoria adds, “It’s trying to live a more clean, healthy life, being cautious of the things that you put on your body and the things that you consume. I think we just need to be weary. Perhaps educate yourself a bit on the types of products that are not good for your body, check the ingredients of the product, and also try to buy fresh products that are grown locally. I think the way forward is just to have a more holistic approach to life.”
Proving she is a wholesaler with a lot of heart, Victoria approaches a holistic life and a holistic business through empowerment. She has recently launched a project to empower other female entrepreneurs, educating them on how to make their own beauty products to take to the Namibian market.
Hambelela Organic is a Namibian business that supplies and retails 100%-pure essential oils, organic butters, carrier oils, raw materials, dried herbs and preservatives for food and cosmetics grade.
