From Kitchen Experiments to African Success: The inspiring journey of Portia Mgomezulu

Lancôme, L’Oréal, Garnier and Estee Lauder are some of the brands black women have to rely on when it comes to skincare. It is the norm in most African countries for a black person to be a front for a brand owned by other races.

Portia Mgomezulu, who owns the skincare range Portia M has defied all odds. She is one of the few people who have shown us that you can be an introvert and have a successful business.

Born to a teenage mother, Portia also known as Matshidiso got her entrepreneurial spirit from her maternal grandmother who raised her and used to run a café in their yard growing up.

Portia a wife, mother, devout Christian and a systems engineer by profession started experimenting with products in her kitchen after giving birth to her first child. After her mother in law told her that marula oil helps fade stretch marks, she never stopped.

As a young woman, she always used to wonder why black people were always consumers and never the producers. Making a vow to herself that she would not wait for someone in Paris to come and sell marula oil to Africans, she started selling her oil to fellow church members and friends.

Being a firm believer of God and the Holy Spirit and having a supportive husband, she took a chance on herself, resigned from her job knowing that God will always provide for her needs.

As someone who was not in the limelight, she did doubt herself and had a secret Facebook page where she would check the reviews of her skincare brand from. The skin care range is available in all the major retail shops in South Africa and also popular in other African countries like Zambia and Zimbabwe.