As a child, beauty fascinated her.
She always wanted to dress to the T, just like her fashionista mother would.
Every time she left home for school, she looked prim and proper.
From having her hair and uniform on point to her school shoes shining, her teachers and peers knew not to miss her name on the top achieving learners as well.
Although she says she might have not been recognised as much as she would have loved for her academic strides, doubting herself was never on her cards.
Joining the virtual interview with Drum, she goes into full boss-mode as she shares that she’s working from home and that she prefers that setting over going to the office unless she needs to.
The perks of entrepreneurship look good on her, even if we say so ourselves.
When she started though, Mbali Sebapu was just posting natural hair content for fun on Instagram.
Given that 2014 was around the time when Afro chic was making a comeback, she jumped on to the hype.
Within a couple of months, she was a sought-after natural hair influencer before influencing was even a thing and brands scouted her for collaborations.
“So, I didn't even understand when people say, can you please send us your rate card? Then there was this lady from London who owned a brand called African Essentials. And she's the one that actually taught me everything.”
The beauty-enthusiast went from learning what is and how to compile a rate card to how one responds to emails and eventually, how to make money from social media.
During this time, she was still serving in the national defence force as she had been since 2008.
It was only after a successful Ponds sheet mask campaign in 2018 that she found out that projected sales quadrupled for this campaign because she was a part of it.
From here onwards, Mbali did her research over Instagram lives to establish the gap in the beauty industry that she could potentially fill.
“I used my pension money to fund my business. I remember when my pension money came in, I was at a Unilever event, and it was a Friday. That Friday I booked accommodation in China. I booked my flight then the Monday I flew to China to meet up with my supplier,” says the Soshanguve-born entrepreneur.
After she did her personal hygiene and safety checks, she gave the green light to the production testing samples.
Reminiscing on how she designed the first Hermosa Flor packaging, she says, “So, I designed our first eyeshadow packaging in the flight back home and I sent it because I was excited. I was like, super excited.”
Her next big step to building her beauty empire was doing a make-up course in addition to the brand and marketing at Vega.
In August, she started pushing her brand and introducing it to the world. Two months in, she was launching what is now known as an internationally renowned cosmetics brand.
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The very same month, most of her products were sold out.
By the end of the pandemic, she had already assumed all the roles there were in the business.
“The business grew like 80% after Covid-19. I was shipping my product. I was the packer. I was the marketing [person]. I was everything when we launched. Then after Covid, I was like, I can't do this on my own,” she adds.
This is how the expansion went from hiring two ladies as her employees to having a physical store in Pretoria, Menlyn in 2021.
Now in her boss babe era, Gorgeous Mbali still makes an effort and a half to not only look the part when she shows up but to also have it reflect in her products.
