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Accidental spill leads to relief remedy

A Fin24 user wants to know how to market his healing remedy for skin disorders. He writes:

I started working for myself in 1998 doing various disciplines, but ended up in the building trade eight years ago. Shortly thereafter my wife was involved in a cooking oil explosion that scarred her face, hands and legs.

Four years later she (or the horse she was treating) spilt a remedy, that we had been mixing on and off for 18 years, over her hands. She felt relief within minutes from the constant pain she had been experiencing for four years, and found that the wrist joint also seemed more flexible after an hour, as the skin had formed severe keloids (growth of extra scar tissue).

We decided to continue treatment on her scars with the blend of oils instead of using bio oils.
 
Within two weeks the scarring of the skin started improving, with the inevitable itching that starts up when healing takes place.

I then created a new blend to help with the itching and to moisturise the skin. Due to the profound change in the condition of my wife's skin, friends and family decided to try the product for the itching caused by eczema.

The vast majority showed major improvement over the short term, with about 70% not having a recurrence of the eczema.

Due to the demand for the oils, I decided to close my construction company and concentrate on developing and marketing the oils.
 
Presently I have products that assist in a wide range of medical conditions as well as developing a serum that truly assists in anti-ageing, with long-term results.

We have been direct marketing locally in the Cape Town area as well as through a website and Facebook page, with the result that we have clients in 34 countries (mostly tourists that had come across our products at markets or health shops) as well as supplying locally.


Some clients that use our anti-ageing products do so despite being able to afford the most expensive products and treatments, because our products outperform the competition, and then some.
 
Due to our website being hacked in February our marketing has taken a huge knock, with the result that the medical certification that we wanted to do this year has been postponed.

We have tried almost everything to get access to funding to expand our business and have the certification done, to no avail. We approached the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) in Stellenbosch for assistance but got nowhere, with one suggestion being that we dilute our products as they work too well!

That is the whole point and the reason we still exist, as the word of mouth marketing due to the efficacy of the products has the best results in pointing clients our way.
 
My questions now are the following:
 
1. Is there someone that can assist in terms of guidance on the way forward, as I am well aware that I am ill equipped to take the marketing and branding of my products forward in a sustainable way and cannot afford to approach a person or company for such assistance?
 
2. Is there a way of funding the above as well as the medical registration that will enable us to stock our products in pharmacies as well as opening the doors to formal export markets?
 
I would appreciate any assistance in the above as I am at wit's end.
 
Ronald Gibson

Business development consultant Anton Ressel responds:

If your product is as effective as you say (and it does sound amazing), you may be better advised to go looking for venture capital rather than funding (you would need to demonstrate job creation potential, have the right BEE status, and jump through hoops) or commercial loan finance (you will need surety, high interest rates, and it's difficult to access).

VCs are by nature more willing to take risks on a product with potential, while banks want proven results.

Another strategy to consider is to approach a large pharmaceutical or cosmetic company and offer them sole distribution rights.

They have the marketing and financial clout to make such a product fly, and you can sit back and cash the royalty cheques, if of course the product does what you claim.

Good luck!

- Fin24

* Share your experience of setting up a business or simply ask a question. Our business panel can put you on the right path.


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