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Angela Sibanda, Chronicle Correspondent

BUDDING Bulawayo entrepreneur and manufacturer of skincare products under the “Indalo” brand, Princess Noma Siziba, scooped two awards under the ZimTrade’s Eagles Nest awards held in Harare last Friday.

Within 11 months of establishment, her skincare business is receiving recognition across the globe including being honoured by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s business development support.

Indalo Skincare Naturals came first in the best Innovation Category and second runner up for the Youth Export Incubator 2020 overall competition. In June this year, the young company won the best award at the National Youth Business Expo that was held in Bulawayo. It was at this platform that Siziba was nominated to be part of the ZimTrade’s Eagle’s Nest Export Incubation Programme, an initiative that assists businesses to become export ready.

Ms Siziba’s story is one of the many Covid-19 successes as she founded Indalo during the Covid-19 lockdown using a local herb – zumbani/umsuzwane, which made headlines for being effective in eradicating symptoms of the virus.

When she launched the product in December last year, Ms Siziba said her experiments on zumbani as a skin care remedy were influenced by her own skin problems, which she was trying to fix. 

In an interview, she said the accolades were credited to the support she has been receiving since she embarked on the business journey.

“This is the greatest honour for me and I am deeply humbled by the support. It just makes me want to do better,” she said. 

“Coming all the way from Cowdray Park to where I am right now is the true African dream.

“By the beginning of 2023 we should have moved to a bigger establishment as we’ve outgrown our home. We also plan to open Zimbabwe’s first vegan spa experience where people can come in for facials and massages using zumbani-based products,” said Ms Siziba.

She also took to her social media to celebrate the achievement mentioning that there was a point in her life when her world seemed to have come to an end, yet all her obstacles became the motivation behind her success.

“If you’ve read any of my books you would have a bit of a window to my life story. From a teenage mother, write-off and least likely to succeed, to an award-winning author and entrepreneur,” she said. 

“Even with a life filled with detours and harrowing surprises, God could still do something for me,” she wrote.