Media personality Pamela Mtanga is a woman of many talents.
For the longest time Mtanga has been marketing and promoting brands using her social media influence. Now she’s using all her experience to expand her brand and relaunch Honey Comb Hair.
Honey Comb Hair is a South African hair brand founded by the media personality and entrepreneur to provide premium quality hair solutions while remaining relatively affordable and accessible.
“When I started Honey Comb Hair, I had promised myself that I would apply the same creative strategies I apply for my brand collaborations to my business and allow my personality to show through the business.
“And that is exactly what I did with the shoot. I am so excited to see it come to life and how it is so refreshing to see it on the website,” says Mtanga.
The Gqeberha-born and bred multimedia entrepreneur recently announced the relaunch of her hair brand with new and improved systems and a website.
This relaunch comes just two months after Mtanga first launched the brand.
“I feel like a proud mom at prize-giving, and her child is collecting all the awards,” she says. “In a short period, I realised the immense impact influencers have on brand marketing. If we can do that for brands, why can’t we do it for our products?”
From a young age, Mtanga has always loved hair. And for those who do not know, she knows how to do hair and is self-taught from just watching hairdressers do their thing.
“I had a hair business from the tender age of 14, influenced by my surroundings. I used to sit at the salon and learn how to do hair just by observing until I realised I could do it too. It is only after varsity that I decided to put a hold on it to focus on my media and influencer career. But I promised myself I would revisit that passion," she says.
Although Mtanga took a break from the hair business to focus on her career as a presenter and host, she never forgot her first love - haircare.
“The beauty of it all is the fact that I never escaped hair due to the nature of my work. I am constantly exposed to hair because I change my hair often. Having worked with hair brands, I was able to have authority and be a trusted voice when it comes to hair.
“After my show on Channel O ended, I wanted to invest my savings into something, and I felt empowered to start a business. So I decided to embark on this journey with Honey Comb Hair, and here we are,” explains Mtanga.
She says the decision to relaunch her haircare brand wasn’t because there was something wrong with it. She received so much support she was overwhelmed and had to revisit the drawing board to make her brand bigger.
“The overwhelming support I got from my social media family and beyond. I had to step back and make it bigger than it was by scaling up. So I hired a workforce, built a new ordering system and bought more stock to keep up with the demand,” she says.
Now, we all know that operating in the hair industry is tricky. Social media is full of people who falsely advertise their products.
We’ve seen people complain about ordering something online that looked like good quality, only to be delivered something different from what they ordered.
One of the challenges Mtanga faces in her business is that it's hard for people to trust her due to online scams they’ve experienced.
“The lack of trust the everyday consumer has as a result of having received bad quality hair from hair boutiques forces you to go an extra mile to reinforce how good your product is.
“And I always tell potential customers that they rather wait until they are happy to purchase because when you are in doubt, you are likely to be met with the product of your expectations.”
She adds that what makes her stand out is that she treats all her customers equally and does not false advertise.
“The wig you will see on your favourite influencer or celebrity is the same wig you will receive when you order," she says.
That is good because some online hair boutiques are notorious for disrespecting ordinary customers. They will give celebrities good-quality hair and sell bad-quality hair to non-famous people – which is unfair because they pay.
On what more to expect from her, Mtanga says she’s on a mission to build a legacy, impact people’s lives and fulfil her purpose.