Local soap brand focuses on sustainable consumption

To cater to these growing demands, the global market for sustainable business ventures has itself been expanding over the last few years. One such venture, Kabiki Natural Soaps and Bath Products, can be found in Trinidad and Tobago at the home of Biochemical Engineer, Gillian Forde.

Coming across her mother’s soap making books in a kitchen cupboard, Forde decided to try her hand at soap making. What started as a hobby has now blossomed into the Kabiki brand, named after an exotic plant found in India. In an interview with Business Day, Forde gave insight into the business’s growth and vision.

Kabiki Natural Soaps and Bath Products was stablished in January 2016. Forde spoke about how the 36 different scented soaps offered by the brand came to fruition. Initially creating her soaps through the simpler melt and pour method, Forde realised that for the development of a successful business model, she needed to utilise a more diverse method. She instead began using the hot process of soap production, which provided her with more avenues for creative growth of the brand and gave her “the freedom to not only create soaps from scratch but also play around with different scents to create a unique experience for customers.” This also gave the capacity to tailor soap scents to her customers’ preferences.

Questioned about the difficulties faced while putti ng the brand together, Forde said that most of her soap making equipment had to be imported, as the ones she needed were not readily available in TT.

She soon realised that constantly importing equipment, such as soap moulds, may not be enti rely sustainable and developed creative methods to reduce her importations.

She began using Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) to create her soap moulds.

She said another challenge she continues to face is the availability of the essential oils used in her soaps. Those oils, she said are limited on the local market and are very expensive, making it more feasible to import them.

Forde noted that since inception of the Kabiki brand, prices in the essential oils have increased. How does this affect the price of her product? She said one of her soaps retails for approximately $35 but recalled that this wasn’t always the case. Initially, prices were determined by the types of essential oils used. Although reasonable in theory, she found that using this pricing system, cost of some soaps reached as high as $70, resulting in a decline of her product’s competitiveness.

She made adjustments in the base ingredients to reduce costs and allow her price her product more reasonably. However, she admitted that further increases in the costs of raw materials, particularly the essential oils, will impact her profit margin and may make her current prices unsustainable.

Currently available through orders as well as at small business fairs, Forde said the products are slowly making their way into the local markets. The brand was recently picked up by Karie’s Kraft , a retailer at the Piarco International Airport.

It can also be found, in very small amounts, in Barbados, as some keen customers have bought them to be resold on the island. Forde admits that the brand is yet to develop a social media presence, which in today’s world can be an effective marketing strategy.

Despite this and other challenges, Forde says the aim of Kabiki Natural Soaps and Bath Products is to be sold side by side with other local, regional and international soaps.

Asked if she had any advice for people seeking to create an entrepreneurial business like herself, Forde encourages them to “be persistent and enjoy what they do, so that they would be inclined to keep going, despite any challenges that they may encounter.”