Denis Opudo
Ludwick Marishane moved from Johannesburg to Limpopo, in South Africa to live with his mother. He noted that his parents did not offer financial support to him in most entrepreneurship ventures. Besides, the family mainly survived on the mother’s salary which was so but peanuts. Long-term business idea came to his mind as the only alternative to generate income. Like many youths in Africa, Marishane tried many enterprises which failed. He tried biodiesel, safety kits, healthy cigarette and safety magazines which all failed. The main challenge was lack of funds to get inputs and product expansion. In 2007, a new business idea rose from a friend who did not want to take shower.
The friend suggested the invention of a product to act as a substitute for the physical bucket bath. The market research indicated that many people in Africa encountered a similar problem. He discovered DryBath which is a skin gel that clean human body without the use of water. In 2008, he filed a patent to secure the product. He became the youngest patent filer at the age of 17 years. However, he encountered the shortage of funds to improve the prototype. But then he furnished the prototype after two-year participation in business plan competitions. The initiative enabled him to raise $1,700 required.
He also solicited help from Hennie du Plessis who is a chemical engineer. The engineer supported the idea by offering 25% stake in the company. The partnership improved the product quality ten times than the initial one. The final product in the market removes dead skin cells without any odor on the surface. Another partner, Lungelo Dlamini joined them to help in carrying out market research. The research aimed at determining what it meant to be clean by individuals. The findings indicated that many people wanted to get rid of dirt by wiping.
However, the stumbling block was the high price for the product which costs R150 ($12.50) for 15 washes bottle. They targeted the governments across Africa at a price of R2.50 ($0.20) per wash but failed. They changed the marketing strategy to sell the product at R5 ($0.40) per wash. The targeted customers were now the middle-income homes. The product attracted most clients from Asia and Europe. February this year recorded the highest revenue. This was five times more than the last year’s revenue. Marishane pointed out that they are now working on mechanisms to lower the price. The business proved to the world that any entrepreneurial idea is viable. The product now enables people to clean their body without using water.
