VANUATU: Vanua Soap – small business that just keeps bubbling along!
Vanua Soap is a little soap business in Luganville, Santo. We interviewed entrepreneur Joelle Kamata, the mastermind behind the business, to find out what makes Vanua Soap keep bubbling along. Here’s what she said:
Our small business buys local raw materials from our farmers in Vanuatu to produce locally-made natural soap. We target mainly businesses in town and tourists who travel in and out of the country. Our next project is looking into hygiene products such as shampoo and body lotion. The business started in 2019 with a lot of research. I attended a few trainings on how to produce soap using cold, hot and liquid processes, and I realised from this that I would need to invest in some resources.
From research and training, we drew up formulas and started manufacturing test products. In 2020 we started production, and it was a great success. Tropical cyclone Harold crumpled our production shed, and we had to rebuild a temporary shed; then along came COVID-19, which again slowed down production. As the borders re-opened, the business started picking up pace with greater demand, along with a new product, Accommodation Soap, a naturally made soap that is now widely used in local tourism businesses.
I was first inspired to start Vanua Soap back in 2014 when I met Charlotte Langwah in Vila, who showed me how to produce dry Nangai (our local nuts) and Tamarine with sugar. This sparked a fire in me to use local produce to create a product and add value. I had had a couple of other businesses not succeed, so I then started to brainstorm how we start producing something from coconut oil because there is so much waste from other coconut products.
I started chatting around with friends and trying to find solutions to the problem, and we came up with the idea of producing soap with these natural products. I connected with a trainer from Quebec in Canada who taught me a step-by-step process.
My allergies, using the virgin coconut oil market, and my passion for local products all led to naturally produced Vanua Soap. I plan to invest in a larger industrial space to expand the factory. I currently have 6 staff working alongside me, 5 females and 1 male.
I found out about the Business Link Pacific Business Support Grant through one of my aunts who spotted an ad on Facebook. At that time, the business was cutting soap manually, so I applied for a Grant to buy 2 cutting machines. BLP offers help with the application process, and I’d say a business owner without much education would need a lot of help. I managed to complete the application on my own.
The business is working much better than when we did things manually. The Grant has increased my production through the 2 newly purchased machines! If it weren’t for the new machines, I would never have met daily targets. I can now meet my customers’ expectations on time every time.
Business is expensive and hard to hold on to here in the islands, and we need to work together to grow and support each other. I hope sharing my story helps other business owners to give it a go and take a look at what BLP can offer.
An enormous THANK YOU, BLP!! I am thrilled and excited to announce that I am now producing 2000 bars of Accommodation Soap from the machines I’ve purchased with the help of your Business Support Grant.
Business Link Pacific Business Support Grants and subsidised business advice are available to qualifying businesses in five categories. To find out more about BLP, visit businesslinkpacific.com. From there, you can use one or more of the free online tools to see what type of help your business needs.
To see what financial services are available to your business and whether your business or project qualifies, visit https://about.businesslinkpacific.com/what-are-blps-finance-services-support/.