Beards, Bikes And Balms: Who Says It's A Man's World?

Her husband’s struggles with a freshly growing beard marked the start of Monique Fleming’s business Bonafide Beards.

- Jessica Hubbard

In 2014, after searching in vain for a product for her bearded husband, Monique Fleming did what any self-respecting partner would do. She came up with a home remedy of sorts for her hubby’s freshly growing beard. Where she differs from the rest of us, however, is that her “homegrown” product soon became a fully-fledged movement to “Bring back the Beard” – and spawned a feverishly busy retail operation in Parktown North, Johannesburg.

What did you do prior to starting your own business?

I worked in the corporate sector for many years before I took the entrepreneurial plunge nine years ago to follow my soul’s dream. I began a small business doing hair extensions. I realised then that I would always work for myself.

Where did the idea come from?

At the same time that the hair extension industry took a turn for the worse (due to quality reasons) and I was left between a rock and an empty bank balance, my husband Joe started growing his beard. It was dry, itchy and scratchy, and he needed something to relieve the symptoms of a freshly growing beard. Necessity is the mother of all inventions they say, and I needed to invent something to help save his beard, as we couldn’t find any products specifically tailored to treat a man’s beard in this country and shaving was not an option for either of us – #ilovefacialhair.

What motivated you to turn it into a business?

After producing a small batch of beard balm for him as a gift, which he absolutely adored, I decided to take my last R1 300 and produce a batch of samples for the bearded man in SA. There was clearly a huge gap in the market for hairy men who needed the products – or in some cases didn’t know they needed the products yet. And so my business was born.

How did you make your first sale?