21-year-old beauty entrepreneur, Rabia Ghoor of Pretoria earned the Forbes Woman Africa ‘Young Achievers’ Award for 2021.
The awards were aired online during a two-day virtual summit and celebrate African women who inspire confidence through rewriting the narrative, leaders who advocate positive change and are committed to economic and social transformation on the continent.
“I’ve attended the Forbes Woman Africa Awards for 3 years straight as the youngest and least qualified person in the room each time.” Rabia commented.
“After being announced as the winner, I received tons of emails for collaborations and of opportunities for further interviews.
“That is exposure for my brand and myself. I think winning opened networking opportunities,” she said.
“The selection process for the annual awards is always a rigorous undertaking that considers the individual's body of work and her impact and influence within a particular field," says Renuka Methil, managing editor of Forbes Africa and Forbes Woman Africa.
“I’d like to congratulate all the 2021 award winners for being such incredible leaders in their respective fields, particularly after such a tumultuous year,” she added.
At 14, Rabia launched ‘Swiitch Beauty’ - a make-up and skincare online beauty store. She made her first sale one year later, and left school to pursue the business full time at 16. Today, this 21-year-old is well on her way to building an empire.
“I didn’t sleep at all during that first year,” she recalls. “School was just taking up so much of my time in addition to working on the business that I would sleep at 3am sometimes and wake up at 6am to redo the day.”
Ghoor says the idea started when she discovered YouTube. “At the time there weren't many South African beauty Youtubers, so I was mostly watching international makeup channels. I remember thinking to myself: “international makeup enthusiasts have so much more of a variety!” - American, European or Asian brands that are unavailable here in South Africa were constantly innovating & evolving - (especially in the digital space), while South African brands lagged behind or just straight up didn't exist.”
“I began researching product sourcing, formulation, e-commerce, packaging, manufacturing, design with the end goal in mind being to create a beauty brand that firstly, didn’t break the bank and secondly - made things that people would actually use in real life - things that did what they said they were going to do.”
“I remember getting dressed for parties at friends places - and all the girls would pull out their little vanity cases and show off their internationally purchased, cult branded makeup.”
“I wanted to create an affordable, local product the South African girl / boy felt proud to purchase, and more importantly - proud to use.”
“It’s all been kind a whirlwind, seeing the company go from inception to where it is now. I can’t believe I get to make makeup for a living. What a concept.”
Ghoor says she is grateful to her friends and family members for being part of her journey.
