Accident leads to business success
Even accidents can sometimes lead to business ideas.
This is exactly how Visua International skin products came about when a Pretoria woman, Odette Baard, had an accident about nine years ago that left an ugly scar on her face.She tried every skin product on the market that claimed it could heal scar tissue, but was disillusioned when none of them had any effect.
With the help of a cosmetic scientist, Odette then set out to analyse these products and found that the amounts of active ingredients in them were so little that they were virtually ineffective. The next step was to develop her own product and the result was nothing short of miraculous. And that is how the Visua International baby was born into the beauty market. Production has remained on a small scale but with proven results.
Since the first formulation she had made for her personal use, Visua has become a passion for Odette. “The greatest satisfaction is to know that I'm making a difference in people's lives: Older women who are desperate to look younger and better, and teenagers with skin problems who are desperate to have a better self image.
Although it is very expensive to use such substantial amounts of active ingredients, the retail price to the public remains affordable. This Odette manages by keeping the company small without compromising on quality. She says the only way to expand fast too the size of other national or multi-national companies is to spend a fortune on marketing, advertising and packaging. But that will have a very unfavourable effect on the price, which is not where she wants to go with the product.
Thus, While the company is growing slowly and winning consumer trust, Odette keeps on experimenting in the lab.
Recently she developed two products that she is very excited about. These are a day collagen and a night collagen from plant derived collagen. (An animal lover herself, none of the Visua international products contains any animal derivatives.)
“One moisture molecule in this collagen has the capacity to carry 300 times its own weight in water molecules into the skin, keeping the skin moisturised all day long,” she says. It also protects the skin against free radicals, reduces fine lines, stimulates cell regeneration and has anti-inflammatory properties.
There are two lines of Visua products available. The professional line consists of 22 products and is only used at approved salons. Because the concentration of active ingredients in these products are too powerful for home use, they can only be applied by specially trained therapist.
The retail line, consisting of 20 home care products, is available to the public through these same salons.
For more information or to find out where your nearest salon is, call Visua International on 086 010 3320 or send
e-mail to info@visuainternational.com.
© Bizwise June 2009
