Siphosethu beauty salon and public telephones
Thandi Mbatha used to answer the telephones for TBP. Now she
runs her own public telephone service out of her successful hair
salon…
Thandi Mbatha was inspired to start her own business after working
for The Business Place on a temporary basis. Always having an interest
in the beauty industry she decided to open a hair salon.
She did her research, gaining valuable insights from a friend
running a salon into the opportunities and difficulties of running
such a business. She then had to find premises which she was lucky to
get in 12th Avenue after an existing salon owner decided to retire
from the business. She is currently renting the space.
Using R15,000 of her own money as start up capital she set up the
salon in March 2007. She then invested a further R7,500 into two
public telephones.
Thandi attended all the information workshops at TBP Alex and had a
number of sessions with the navigators there. They convinced her to
register her business formally, putting her in contact with someone
able to assist her do that quickly.
She employs two experienced hairdressers but personally manages the
business with a very hands-on approach to ensure that customers get
excellent service.
“I’m here at eight am every morning to make sure that everything is
ready and customers get good service”
The information she gained from TBP also made her realise that she
was charging too little for her services, having based her prices only
on the surrounding competition, not taking into account what
additional levels of service and product she was be offering. Just by
increasing her prices her turnover has increased from R8,000 to
R10,000 per month.
She understands the importance of good customer service and now has
regular clients coming from the surrounding areas such as Lombardy
East and East Bank. In fact her customer numbers have greatly
increased after the first few months with fairly minimal marketing,
mainly word of mouth and advertising prices and specials on the board
outside her salon.
Thandi plans to attend the next Micro-MBA training to be run by TBP
Alex as she really needs more information on costing. We are looking
forward to revisiting her soon to see the impact this training has on
her business.
Business details:
 Thandi Mbatha,
Siphosethu: hair salon and public telephone service.
12 Avenue, Alexandra.
Mobile: 082 938 9090
Email: corat@webmail.co.za
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