From banking to beauty: Meet Beauty on TApp founder Mathebe Ngwenya
Mathebe Ngwenya's online skincare platform Beauty on TApp now has four store locations.
She always had a passion for creativity before venturing into finance.
Mathebe recently got married and credits her partner as supportive and holds her accountable in business.
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What started out as just a little girl's passion turned into a lucrative e-commerce business centred on clean beauty.
Mathebe Ngwenya has always had a creative mind and looked up to the matriarchal figures in her life as the original 'glam girls'. But she couldn't deny the analytical side to her either, which shifted her trajectory to becoming chartered accountant.
'I've kind of always had this passion for both creativity as well as finance and numbers. And I think the two coming together is what's really kind of helped me build Beauty on TApp,' Mathebe tells TRUELOVE.
Beauty on TApp has been the go-to destination for curated beauty, skincare and wellness products since 2015 that blossomed from being a digital-first platform to opening their first brick and mortar store in 2023.
Just two years later, Mathebe's baby has grown to four store locations, including in Durban's Gateway Theatre of Shopping and Johannesburg's Fourways Mall.
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Lessons learnt along the way
Beyond retailing popular international and local beauty brands, Beauty on TApp is also the home of two fast-growing in-house labels, Pastry Skincare, known for its science-backed and effective formulations made with the local climate in mind, and B'Air Skincare, an affordable and minimalist but effective range.
With her background in finance, Mathebe takes us through some of the lessons she's learnt since opening her first physical Beauty on TApp store, from the science behind merchandising and keeping stock to paying rent.
'I think at our first store, those are things that we still had to learn versus by the fourth store. You kind of understand all of that and you're able to better negotiate things like your lease and [you're] able to talk to brands in terms of terms and how they extend those terms to you. Visual merchandising as well, how to place brands and so on. And so they're multiple lessons that you learned along the way.'
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With a new physical store coming double the size of their current offerings as well as a national and continental expansion, Mathebe's plans for Beauty on TApp are just beginning.
Support from all sides
Mathebe doesn't do it all alone.
The entrepreneur recently got married and shares how her partnership gave her the support and freedom she needed when pushing forward with her dreams for Beauty on TApp.
Mathebe gushes, 'It's been really incredible, at least to have somebody who calls me accountable, even in business as well, and who's really supportive.
'And so it's been really great just having somebody who understands me, understands the business from all facets. From the digital side, marketing side and everything, he's just very supportive. So it's been a really great ride as well.'
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