House of Gorgeous Pty Ltd, was founded by Nomangesi Gigi, a Community Activist and a SHE specialist by profession. Nomangesi was born in Cape Town, relocated to Bloemfontein in the Free State in 2016 to pursue her career in Manufacturing Industry as a Safety Officer. “I was raised in a business household, my father was a business man and I started working for him from my primary days and I’ll earn my weekly pay every Sunday. My mother was a domestic worker during the week and she was selling hardbody chickens over the weekend.
When did you commence with HOUSE OF GORGEOUS and what inspired you to go for it? “I started House of Gorgeous in 2019 with company registration and trade mark registration. The operations began in August 2020 by launching it on social media and selling at the neighboring flea markets every weekend and direct sales to friends, family members and referrals. We expanded our product variety later in the same year by adding giftware and 2021 we added headwear rage (Caps and Barrett) and we will be expanding to clothing, and homeware soon. To start, I was inspired by women empowerment, motivation and support awareness talks as most women are dealing with self-esteem issues, resulting to self-doubt and seeking validations from other people, thinking that beauty means glamourous. I then decided to create a female lifestyle brand to inspire women and create feminism awareness in our community to uplift the women’s confidence”.
Challenges you faced when you were trying to get HOG off the ground and how did you tackle those challenges? “Being a founder and funder of your business put a huge financial strain and can affect your life in general, also being the employer and employee requires more time invested and can cause time loss for family and social life. Some of the challenges was to get the product and printing supplier local, resulting us to source out of the province and paying more money on inventory but still maintain the good mock-up to sustain the business. But Perseverance and consistency led to determination and achieving goals”.
What makes your brand stand out? And what are your business highlights thus far? "First, it complements women so when they buy the merchandise they feel Gorgeous and beautiful as they are constantly reminded every time they are using their merchandise. Secondly, our merchandise caters for both genders, and all ages. Also, the brand can be printed in three different kinds, full logo, single word and single alphabet to cater for all feminists and create more awareness on feminism. Highlights are, In 2022 we joined the Department of Small Business Development network through SEDA Bloemfontein branch and already had our first exhibition during the minister road show for sales and marketing".
When not busy pushing HOG, what do you do to unwind? “When I get time, I try to in-cooperate rest in-between by taking power naps, spend time with my son and socialize with my friends every now and then. Other than that, I am full time working”.