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Kenya: Beautician Edges Into Pharmaceutical Scene
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
Patrick Wanjohi
What started out as an experiment for Lucy Mugo has turned out to be money making business enterprise that has rewarded her interest in pharmaceuticals.
The 45 year- old lady who says her biggest dream was to become a doctor had her dream somehow realised at the Allan International School in London where she learnt how to prepare soaps, cosmetics, medicine, ointments and lotions using farm produce, and animal products.
It was when she made a ringworm cream for her son and the family body gel, that the entrepreneurial itch bit her.
Mrs Mugo is the director of Cyber Chemicals and Cosmetics Products. The company manufactures home and hospital disinfectants, body and hand lotions, cosmetics, skin diseases ointments and rodents kill pellets, from farm products, giving them fresh fruit aromas rather than using chemicals like Ester - a class of chemical compounds that consist of an organic acid and often has a pleasant smell that is found in perfumes, essential oil and pheromones- though they add a little salt.
Most pharmaceutical products do not have attractive smells but at Cyber Chemicals they make aromas to the client's taste.
"People don't have knowledge about pharmaceutical products smell, so they buy without consulting and are affected by the smell. But when you come to us , we make one that you are comfortable with", she says.
With a range of 42 products Mrs Mugo says that her greatest challenge is creating market awareness, financing, and equipment.
"Most of the people who consume our products are from the rural area," she says.
A beautician by profession, Mrs Mugo who is also a farmer said she settled on the idea of making the products to have a fruit scent because chemicals are not human friendly when it comes to smell, "at times they make one feel like vomiting", and again they are expensive and poisonous.
Cyber Chemicals employs 30 people, in its manufacturing plant and has a weekly turnover of Sh20,000.
"I started the company with Sh500 as the capital in 1993 in Embu", reveals Mrs Mugo.
In her laboratory at Ruaraka, she says that before they make a product they consult with the clients to address on the issue of allergies. Interestingly, she says that when mixing the chemicals, she doesn't use gloves but makes use of her bare hands.
Mrs Mugo says that she is set to change the mindset of people that imported chemical products are superior to locally manufactured ones.
She is due to open a training school that will equip students with the skills to start up cottage industries in their homes.
The entrepreneur says poverty, ignorance, and inadequate know how have contributed to unhealthiness in our homes, bodies and hospitals.
With the rise of herbalists, the mother of two dismisses the notion that she is a herbalist saying herbalists use traditional knowledge.
She continues to say that, most of the herbal products are not retailed in large scale but Cyber Chemicals products are distributed throughout the region.
In a week she produces 100 different products that are distributed to homes, hospital, shops, supermarkets, and chemists across the country.
The Cyber Chemical client list includes learning institutions, district hospitals and private clinics, which include Embu General Hospital and Kerugoya District hospital. Much of the profits go to buying of equipment, labelling and preservatives.
Mrs Mugo says that Cyber Chemical products are affordable, available, environmental friendly, efficient, well packaged and with no side effects.
She utilises medicinal plants from her farm incorporating health philosophy, modern and traditional concepts, although the products are not certified by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs).
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"At Kebs we were told that they need to have a comparison before they standardise our products", she said.
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