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A man with skin in the game

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During his career in the health and skincare industry, Gunther Dippenaar gained international experience working with The Hilton Group and has been involved in the establishment of various South African spas and skincare clinics.

His passion and keen ability led him to open his own clinic, Sprout Aesthetics, and has seen the launch of his own skincare line, SCI+CEUTIC, which he describes as the next generation of results-driven skincare. 

He shares his experience in setting up business.

What did you do prior to starting your own business?

For the last 14 years I have been working in health and skincare clinics, locally as well as abroad, treating various skincare conditions and concerns. This practical experience led me to opening Sprout Aesthetics six years ago and then starting my own skincare line, SCI+CEUTIC, in March this year. 

Where did the idea come from?

At my skincare clinic clients see you for an hour, and then go home. I wanted them to be able to take a piece of my knowledge and passion home with them in a jar to be able to use daily.

What motivated you to turn it into a business?

I felt like I was ready to grow my business, but instead of opening a second clinic, I felt it would be smarter to build a different secondary business on top of the foundation of my original business. Also, in the US independant skincare brands are really celebrated and I really wanted to be part of this segment in SA.

How did you make the first sale happen?

SCI+CEUTIC started selling itself. I had created such excitement with my clients at Sprout Aesthetics that we sold out three months’ worth of stock in a week when we first launched.

How did you get the funding to get started?

I worked with Ryan Cohen from Merchant Capital. His company provides funding based on past turnover whereby they purchase a portion of your future sales and your repayment instalments are linked directly to your turnover. So in a slow month you pay less and in a busy month your repayment value would be higher.

Where do you currently operate?

SCI+CEUTIC is sold directly from Sprout Aesthetics as well as from my recently launched online store.

Tell us about your future plans.

I am working on plans to launch in the US in the next 12 months, as well as getting stocked in high-end, boutique retailers and aesthetic practices locally.

What have been the three biggest you've had to overcome?

I have had to become a logistics, branding and packaging expert overnight. Nothing in my past business experience could have prepared me for the challenges related to these.

Biggest lesson learnt?

In business you are always going to hit speed bumps, but the faster you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move forward, the better.

How tough is competition in your sector, and what differentiates your product and service from others?

We literally have thousands and thousands of competitors.

But due to our boutique nature we are able to adopt and launch new ingredients and concepts to market a lot faster. This allows us to always be one step ahead of our competition.

How many people do you currently employ?

I have a full-time team of four and then also work with various international scientists and pharmacists, as well as branding and packaging consultants.

What is the best business advice you have ever received?

I am a huge fan of marketing genius Seth Godin. He teaches entrepreneurs to be different, to make their own rules and not follow the herd.

What was unexpected?

SCI+CEUTIC was literally an overnight success; I still have to pinch myself sometimes.

How do you stay motivated?

I surround myself with other creative entrepreneurs. We share ideas, discuss our challenges and celebrate one another’s successes.

What are your non-work habits that help you with your work-life balance?

I recently joined the 5AM club. There is a lot of literature on how the most successful people in the world get up at 5am. I am definitely not a morning person so it was a huge challenge to begin with, but since implementing it my productivity has increased and I no longer have that anxiety around not having enough time.

What is your three-year goal for your company?

Over the next three years we plan on launching new innovative and game-changing products, as well as launching the product in the US and UK.

This article originally appeared in the 20 October edition of finweek. Buy and download the magazine here.

 

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