FRO’NIQUES, Locally Made And Inspired Hair Product Company
Fro’Niques is a local company that was started in 2019 by two sisters; Bonolo Simon and Kefilwe Matake. They are the company’s directors. The company produces home-made, organic hair and skin care products. The company does not only produce natural hair products and skin products, it also makes hair accessories like Satin Bonnets, Scrunches, African Earrings and many others. They have plans as well to start a clothing line. The products they make are from raw natural ingredients such as Shea butter and different oils like Jojoba oil, Olive oil, sweet Almond oil, Castor oil and others.
What’s the story behind the creation of Fro’Niques?
The name Fro’Niques is made up of two words. That is Fro which is a name derived from Afro, Afro is a name associated with our natural hair as Africans. Niques is from unique, that is to say we are a brand that specialises in formulating homemade natural hair products that are unique and different from the rest of other companies. We also accommodate all different hair types and uniqueness that is within the natural hair community.
Fro’Niques started as a passion that we both have for Africanism, natural hair and beauty. My sister and I both keep and nurture natural hair and throughout our natural hair journey it was difficult to find the right products that were chemically free (with no parabens and sulphates). That’s when we started with our first product; Fro’Niques hair butter. At the time we were using the butter for ourselves without selling. The demand and request that we received from people regarding what we were using on our hair and the burning passion we had for natural hair and beauty led to the foundation of Fro’Niques Company. The difference now is that we are no longer formulating for ourselves only but for other people, we had to equip ourselves with adequate knowledge on the best ingredients to use, different kinds of hair and how to formulate in general. Extensive knowledge is required when dealing with hair care products therefore we enrolled on master classes, we did formulating courses online, attended online events, read books and did through research. After completing all these that’s when we officially registered Fro’Niques as a company.
For how long has it been running?
Fro’Niques Company has been in operation for a year and eight months now, it was registered in August 2019.
How is the business doing, is it successful in terms of sales and reception?
The reception is good, nowadays a lot of people are going natural, they are now embracing their natural hair than before and all they need are organic products which is what we provide. Even though the sales and reception are good, Covid-19 has brought a lot of challenges in the operation of Fro’Niques. We buy most of our ingredients and packaging containers in South-Africa; therefore, prices as well as transportation prices has since increased.
Do you distribute locally or internationally?
We are currently distributing our products locally. Our products are found on SkymartBW, we also sell through our Facebook page (Fro’niquesBW), on Instagram (Froniques) and we also have two specially selected team members who sell Fro’Niques products. One of our goals is for our products to reach international market.
Let’s talk about your products, what products do you manufacture?
We formulate a variety of hair care products, we have Fro’Niques Hair Butter, Fro’Niques Hair Growth Oil, Fro’Niques Detangling Leave-In Conditioner, Fro’Niques Curling Custard and Fro’Niques Nourishing Shampoo bars that come in different colours and fragrances.
Why those products if I may ask?
Our aim at Fro’Niques is to make our clients natural hair journey easy, fun and worth pursuing and also allow them to authentically and enthusiastically embrace who they are. That is why we provide them with all hair care products in one place. People often say that natural hair is demanding, expensive and hard to maintain. That is why here at Fro’Niques we provide them with all these products from shampooing to moisturising.
Would you say the products are necessary and good for the customers, for their hair and all?
The products are good, they are 100% organic and chemical free (paraben, sulphate and silicone free) and most of the ingredients we use are plant based ingredients.
What about the products that make the customer’s hair look good and all?
Each Fro’Niques product has its specific purpose on the hair. Some are moisturising, sealing in moisture, some are used for pre-poo, hot oil treatments, makes it easy for detangling and many more. When all these products are used effectively and consistently the hair stays moisturised, the scalp gets nourished, and the hair grows.
How do you differentiate the ingredients that are good for your customer’s hair?
Like we already mentioned, research was carried on the best ingredients to use. Before we include any ingredient on our product, we research about it; its side effects and benefits to the hair and its purpose. That is when we select the best.
Do you only provide hair products or are there any others?
Like we already mentioned, our aim is to make natural hair journey easy, we do not only provide hair care products, but we also provide hair care services. We pre-poo, treat and pamper natural hair. We also go an extra mile of providing hair care accessories, we sew and sell satin bonnets, satin pillowcases, satin ribbons, African head wraps and we do African earrings. We also have a YouTube Talk Show called FaceTime with Fro’Niques where we talk about beauty, interview the youth to hear their challenges and get to interact with our clients and many more.
Let’s talk about your competitors, how do you make yourself unique from them?
What makes us different is that we do not only sell products. We take our clients step by step in their journey of loving, embracing and nurturing their crown. What also makes us different is we do not only sell, we teach young ones through our show that they are enough and beautiful the way they are, that there is nothing wrong with them being natural.
What are your aspirations regarding the growth and embitterment of your product?
Our goal is not only to be recognised locally but also internationally. Our goal is to also have local and international distributors and also have a saloon that provides everything in house because right now we are working from home.
Duncan Sebeso 
Celebrity World