In 2021, civil engineer Lufuno Rasoesoe quit her job as a building inspector to pursue her lifelong passion for making soap. Almost four years later, the Venda-born entrepreneur’s Tosh detergents can be found in major retailers in Gauteng.
Rasoesoe, now based in Mamelodi, said she started the business because she wanted to do something that she found fulfilling. After spending years learning how to make soap from her mother as a child, she felt it would be a business venture that would give her a sense of purpose.
“Before I became a building inspector, I was a metro police officer. Despite doing these things I felt a void that I simply couldn’t fill. But then I would make soap, and I enjoyed doing it. It was funny how it gave me so much peace and fulfilment, and I guess that’s why I always say it’s passion.”
Tosh manufactures environmentally friendly cleaning products. The range includes dishwashing liquid, thick bleach, glass and window cleaner, multipurpose cleaner, fabric conditioner and pine gel.
“We are creating products that are gentle to you as a consumer, as well as to the environment due to the raw materials, because we know that they will be able to disintegrate quickly. We use indigenous plant extracts that we source from Limpopo.”
We use indigenous plant extracts that we source from Limpopo
— Lufuno Rasoesoe
After realising that she wanted to commercialise her soap-making skills, she started conducting research and became part of an incubation programme that helped improve her products.
Despite assistance from the incubator programme, Rasoesoe said she faced a myriad of challenges. The main one was getting consumers to trust locally produced cleaning products.
“The biggest problem that I’ve realised is that people always have a certain brand that they are more accustomed to, so to just convince them to try out your product has been a challenge. However, with offering people samples for our products, we gain the trust of the consumers.”
Unlike other small businesses that struggle to grow and reach a large customer base, Rasoesoe said Tosh had experienced explosive growth that created “the perfect storm”.
“We had so many customers trying to buy our products in the first year that we didn’t have the financial means to fulfil all those orders. As the company was fully self-funded, we could not cope with the growth,” she said.
Since then, Rasoesoe has won several competitions that offered cash awards, which went towards buying production equipment.
Just seven months after starting production, Tosh products were on the shelves at a Spar in Pretoria, which opened the way to wider distribution. Today, the products can be found at selected Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Makro and Spar outlets as well as on e-commerce sites including Takealot and Amazon.
With all production and packaging done in-house, the company employs 14 people. Five of them are in Limpopo, where they source the indigenous plant ingredients.
Tosh also supplies schools, hotels and Airbnb hosts who buy her cleaning products in bulk. Rasoesoe said the best-selling products, at more than 5,000 units a month, were the dishwashing liquid and pine gel.
Rasoesoe said although Tosh was based in Mamelodi, its customer base was from more affluent areas.
“Our long-term plan is to make an impact in the township with our business as well. Not only do we want to create jobs, but we also want to help them afford our products.”
To bridge the affordability gap, Tosh has introduced its products at “filling stations” in townships, where consumers bring their own containers that they can fill at a lower price.
Long term, , Rasoesoe wants to expand to more retailers across the country and create jobs for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. She looks forward to becoming a household name that can compete with the established big brands.
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