- Shedol launches new exclusive fragrance line
- Options keen to support local manufacturers
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
As local manufacturers fight a losing a battle to secure shelf space in giant retail stores, local cosmetics brand Shedol last week sealed a partnership with lifestyle store, Options. The partnership entails the first-ever cosmetics section in Options stores that launched the cosmetic brand’s new exclusive fragrance line called “Kalahari Sands.”
“We have been trying to push for a wider reach for our products,” the founder of Shedol Group, Kgomotso Twagirayezu, said in an interview. “This deal means we’ll be able to access more customers because Options has 27 stores across the country. We have given this partnership a year’s trial to see how it performs and are optimistic that the products will do well because our brands align.”
Shedol Group is the first local company to partner with Options Botswana, which has been on a quest for growing the local niche market and supporting local manufacturers. Even though Twagirayezu caused quite a stir with her cosmetics products, it has always been a struggle to access retail shelf space until she knocked on Options’ doors.
She noted: “In our quest for a wider reach, we decided to approach local companies and Options gave us the nod. This process took us eight months as we did our research to find out the brands that aligned with ours. This partnership does not mean Options will swallow our brand up as we still have our own stores operating independently. We have taken a leaf from The Body Shop and Clicks partnerships where the brand only operates within another store and does not eliminate its independence.”
The world of beauty has taken a huge interest in products that celebrate the essence of Africa’s unique natural resources and ingredients and Shedol’s latest fragrance line, “Kalahari Sands,” does not miss the mark. The new line is available in Options stores and all the cosmetics range will be available across all Options’ stores by the end of March. “The new line was inspired by the beauty of the Kalahari Desert that we have been planning to do for a long time,” Twagirayezu said. “It features two female and two male fragrances,”
Shedol Group started as a passion project known as Shedol Fragrances in 2015. Twagirayezu had a fragrance collection that inspired her to embark on research into the manufacturing process of fragrances. She found a wealth of information online before she invested in the raw materials necessary for her to embark on her own course.
When she did, the results were impressive and she began to sell her perfumes to family and friends. In 2018, she took a risk by investing in a space at Game City Mall from which she graduated into a kiosk on the same prime spot at the upmarket shopping mall.