Every successful brand and business is anchored in a mission and a vision. For the Great Africa Hair Company (GAHC), its local investment in people and partners is matched in ongoing research and product development.
Never one to rest on his laurels, GAHC founder and CEO Salil Dhingra commits a great deal of time and focus on reading the consumer’s needs across all the brands’ many products within the health and wellness space at home and right around the world.
Whether it’s Afripure or the extensive EF-Active range of products racked in respected chains like Clicks, Shoprite and Dis-chem, these two brands alone have taken the market by storm, which continues unabated due to GAHC’s commitment to profoundly listening and responding to what a price-sensitive market wants and needs.
The GAHC’s success, besides globally tried and locally tested processes, is in its complete commitment to keeping every step of the process home-grown and actively nurtured.
With 100% locally procured and locally supported, a claim few in the health and wellness space can own. “We keep evolving and challenging ourselves, “Salil admits. “It’s the only way we remain relevant to the consumer. Our focus is not on short-term gains but sustainability and growth locally, rather than looking for imported solutions. Our market is diverse yet unique on many levels, and that’s where we look to respond.”
Never resting
Salil’s focus is across his entire stable, but when a sweet spot emerges, he and his team deep dive to deliver an appropriate and respectful solution. “I look to appeal to women, as primary consumers, to deliver unisex solutions.”
With certain lines like the EF-Active disinfectant aerosol sprays now being tested by massive global brands looking to replicate the GAHC’s market-appropriate solutions is a testament to the brand’s agility and ability to see opportunity and demand and deftly respond in a way multinationals cannot. “Their attempts do not threaten me,” Salil points out. If anything, it’s confirmation that their duplication attempts are in vain, if only because we delivered when and where required. “Yes, copycats will appear to challenge, but we’re two years ahead, and that’s a long road to reclaim.”
Perpetual learning
The GAHC’s success does not only lie in its market-appropriate product offerings; it’s in its admission that they’re happy to learn from those more significant than they are. “Many of our solutions the market loves come from many global brands’ inability to deliver country and territory-specific solutions at the time they’re demanded. We do that, swiftly and repeatedly.”
Two recent GAHC examples include EF-Active’s range of male sanitising and grooming lubricants for all types of shaving hardware and Afripure’s new range of haircare sprays.
“The male market is growing,” Salil points out. “Clipper lubricant sprays were never considered by the Remington’s and Philips of the world. If you invest in the hardware, we’re looking to promote the longevity of the investment made in hygiene and maintenance. We’ve found a local solution to both.”
First-to-market evolution
‘No to low chemical’ is where GAHC excels, and Afripure is another chapter the brand is looking to extend into a large assortment of haircare products.
Currently, all sheen sprays are petroleum-based; Afripure has none of it. Head of Sales, Grant Heynes, explains. “Our product development was informed pre-pandemic, where we spoke to our market and talked with them to address their needs. Oils came first as a complement to a more significant beauty regime.
“The oil sheen spray space is full of petroleum; ours is not. Ours has none of that, making it the first-ever natural oil sheen as a spray, Grant adds. “It is 100% natural oil, helps penetrate the scalp, doesn’t contain mineral oils and is vegan friendly. Our sprays get to the scalp in Tea Tree, Jojoba and Argan, with its keratin protein, aiding follicle growth of natural hair and adding a lustre to extensions.”
Sharing is caring
Looking to educate and deliver affordable products to a market emotionally and physically stressed and challenged, pandemic aside, wishes considered, is the GAHC’s ambition.
Their Jojoba varietal in the sheen spray range confirms the brand’s commitment to delivering beyond the apparent demand. “Not only does it satisfy straight haircare, but it also benefits the skin feeding each follicle,” Grant concludes. “Our products consider not only the superficial demand but also the therapeutic benefits beyond the brand promise, and that’s exciting.”
Delivering on-demand
With an investment in innovation and natural response to what the market needs and wants, GAHC continues to rightfully dominate, if only because they’ve invested in research and development, all informed by the same market they look to service every day.
