How To Start Detergent Manufacturing Business In South Africa
What is Detergent?
A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions. There are a large variety of detergents; often they are the sodium salts of long chain alkyl hydrogen sulphate or a long chain of benzene sulphonic acid.
Overview Of Detergent Business in South Africa
A detergent business focuses on manufacturing detergents such as dishwashing liquids or detergents for doing laundry. This is a good market to go into, there is relatively low competition aside from the big brands. You can also easily find a pathway to success with enough marketing.
We need detergents to clean our staff, mostly laundry and dishes, we also have people who are embracing the entrepreneurial spirit and are supporting smaller businesses. This makes this business a great one to start. It doesn’t have high barriers to entry but most people think it does, this means that you will face little competition for the foreseeable future.
How To Start Detergent Manufacturing Business In South Africa
Get training
The internet is full of information but you won’t just read an article on the internet and get to mixing chemicals to create a detergent. You need to have some experience; you need to know what you are doing. The first thing to do would be to attend a short training course, they usually cost less than R5 000 and take just a few weeks. Within weeks, you will be able to know the process of detergent manufacturing from the start to finish.
You will also know which machines to buy, most machines cost around R2 000 on the low end and R9 000 on the higher end. The training will equip you with all the necessary knowledge to run the manufacturing side of your business well.
Most of the questions you might have about detergent manufacturing will be answered during the training process. You will come out knowing a lot about ingredients, formulas and machinery, including regulations and good standards.
Manufacture the detergent
Manufacturing the detergent won’t be hard since you will know exactly what to do after training. The only hard part might be raising finances, again the barrier to entry is not that high, you can get started with R5 000. You have to buy the equipment, ingredients and have operating premises. The operating premises don’t have to be fancy; you can operate right from home.
Branding
After manufacturing your detergent, you have to focus on the business side of things and that starts with branding. You have to come up with a name, logo and design of the containers. Try to make your colours similar with some of the most popular brands, this is more psychological.
Just like people have been accustomed to buying 5kg chicken from a yellow plastic, they would hardly give consideration to a purple plastic. It’s too unfamiliar to them, the same goes with everything else in other consumer market spaces. Don’t try to be extravagant and use colours that are too out of the ordinary. You will also have to register your business, registering your business will only cost R125 when done through the CIPC. This is also the stage whereby you are supposed to package the detergent, it should be ready to hit the shelves.
Marketing
Chances of you getting orders from big retailers right at the start are very slim. You will have to settle for selling to smaller retailers and individuals, if your product is good, it will grow in no time. The first thing you can do is to approach all the local retailers in your community or town and try to sell them your product.
Offer to sell it at a discount if they don’t seem too keen, it’s also important to try and sell it to individuals. Individuals are the ones that end up driving the demand behind any product. Invest in some social media marketing, this will likely be a feel-good story that will catch people’s attention. You will receive a lot of support from social media, which will help to put you in the radar for big retailers.
Create a website where people can order, people don’t have the patience of taking down your numbers, storing them and then contacting you. It’s best to send them straight to your website where they will make orders, that way you will only talk with people who have actually ordered. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a support line, you should have a support line to answer people’s questions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How much do I need to start a detergent business in South Africa?
Keep a minimum budget in mind to be Rs. 25 lakh. This is because of the presence of a large number of competitors in the detergent manufacturing industry so initially, the struggle for selling would be too high.
Is detergent making business profitable in South Africa?
An average amount of Profit that can be earned by individuals doing Detergent Powder making business on a monthly basis would go around INR 30000 to 1.2 lakh per month.
How do I get a license for soap making?
Firstly, a person applying for a manufacturing licence for hand made soap needs to fill the application form 31 along with it; the person is required to pay an amount of Rs 3,500 and Rs 2,500 as a government and inspection fee of 2500 respectively.
Can I sell soap without a license in South Africa?
There are no specific courses or licenses for soap if you do not plan to sell it large scale. Just making them for yourself and friends is okay. If you are expanding your business and go commercial you need to apply for a licence.
How do you make liquid detergent formula?Here’s the formula: Add 72.31% of water in the mixing tank and start mixing. Add 5.04% of sodium hydroxide (50% solution) followed by 9.6% of DDBSA (Calsoft LAS-99, Pilot). Mix well until complete neutralization to pH 7-9
How do you make liquid detergent formula?
Here’s the formula: Add 72.31% of water in the mixing tank and start mixing. Add 5.04% of sodium hydroxide (50% solution) followed by 9.6% of DDBSA (Calsoft LAS-99, Pilot). Mix well until complete neutralization to pH 7-9
How profitable is liquid soap?
Obviously, the liquid soap business is profitable. You can make N15,000 from N5,000 liquid soap production. Therefore, you can reduce your price and approach supermarket owners to resell for you. Also, advertise to everyone in your neighbourhood and encourage them to tell their friends about your product.