ASANA
What does your company do?
Asana Beauty is not your average hair salon. It is a high-end dreadlocks and natural hair salon based in Cape Town, South Africa. It was opened in August 2021 to suit a contemporary woman's lifestyle.
ASANA is for individuals with dreadlocks and natural hair who are dissatisfied with the offering
of existing hair salons. We provide expert hair care, an efficient booking system and a platform
for knowledge sharing.
At ASANA, we believe that beyond every curl, loc, and strand is a sacred story for women of colour—and even though it's just hair, there's so much more than what meets the eye. Therefore, we also aim to create a platform for all-natural hair and dreadlocks stories, as we believe that all these journeys are rooted in lessons of identity, confidence and self-expression.
In the past year, a significant number of our clients are white parents who have adopted black children. They have found our services really helpful in ensuring that their daughters and sons love and feel confident in their curls, within an environment where other black women and men surround them.
What is your biggest success?
Like the majority of South African youth, we, as the founders of ASANA turned to entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and to create economic activity. Since opening our doors, we have employed 10 young black women and 1 young man.
Our biggest success to date has been our ability to grow our client base. We service about 200 clients a month. From opening to date, we have a total revenue of R 1 615 000, with about 5 619 sales/bookings.
Lastly, as young people ourselves, we understand the power of digital technologies for business growth. As a result, all our clients are required to book and pay for their treatments and services online via our booking system. It is fully integrated with our website and enables our clients to choose the treatment/service and date and time they would like and make their booking. It is also designed to show the duration of ones treatment/service, a gap that we saw in the beauty industry.
What has been your biggest hurdle?
Our biggest hurdle has been the difficulty of acquiring funding for growth costs. Our current salon is now too small to accommodate all the staff members and the clientele. Due to the unavailability of funding, we are unable to buy additional equipment and fittings in the store. Our aim is to upgrade business infrastructure in order to service more clients.
