What's the story?

About The Ti'ara Project

We at The Ti’ara Project apply our extensive skills as brand strategists and management consultants to identify, manage and solve complex business problems.

We define a sense of purpose within our team which is the heart and soul of the firm. Our firm works in collaboration with our clients from the design stages until the implementation of the idea, in order to constitute tangible and relevant solutions.As a proudly South African consulting firm, our innovative practices come from deep within our cultural diversity and energy. We aim to develop and manage unique relationships along with provide support to our clients, their stakeholders and fellow brand and business consultants.We practice our management and brand consultancy services in areas where we know our client’s return on investment will be significantly higher than their expenses. By maintaining our primary target on generating tangible value conveyed from design to implementation, our clients have confidence that we will successfully deliver what we promise (Letsema, 2011).

Inspiration behind the name and logo

The word “Ti’ara” was derived from the first names of the two founders of the agency (Taskeen and Kiara). We have included the word “Project” at the end of our company’s name as it symbolizes the fact that we at the firm like to tackle our client’s challenges as our own personal “projects”. We at The Ti’ara Project aspire to solve all our client’s challenges with our excessive skills as innovation consultants. All projects only leave the agency once it has been stamped with the “Ti’ara” seal of approval along with creation, innovation and inspiration, then providing our company with credibility and our client’s with success.

The logo of the agency reflects a clean, sophisticated and classy look and feel, just as we at The Ti’ara Project like to maintain the standard of our work. Our slogan is create, innovate, inspire which represents the creativity within our projects, the innovation behind our ideas and the inspiration that we obtain from one another.

History of HeadBoy Industries Inc.

Ludwick Marishane is a young South African entrepreneur, who at the age of 17 developed a product that allows people who have limited access to water, to maintain their standards of hygiene. He is the founder and managing director of Headboy Industries Inc. Ludwick Marishane originally hails from the border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga and holds a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

His product, called DryBath, is a clear germicidal moisturising gel that’s applied to the skin in the manner of waterless sanitizer.A 20ml DryBath sachet can do the work of one bath, and Marishane claims it saves about 80 litres of water on average with every use (Ted,2012). DryBath is manufactured by Western Cape-based gel cosmetic specialists BioEarth Labs for HeadBoy Industries, the company was started by Marishane to develop and market the product .DryBath was initially inspired by Marishane's friend who was too lazy to take a bath.Within six months, the teenager had devised the formula for the gel. Within a year, he had written up a 40-page business plan, applied for a patent and launched his start-up, called Headboy Industries.

DryBath's Values,Vission & Mission

The vision & mission for Headboy Industries Inc. is to be an innovative product-development &commercialization company. They seek to become the home of African innovation, providing global solutions to consumers. This is aligned in their mission to contribute extensively to the development of a globally-inclusive African innovation ecosystem.Their mission is to develop innovative products that solve the global consumer’s pressing needs, while contributing extensively to the development of Africa’s own world-leading innovation ecosystem (Southafricainfo,2015).Headboy Industries believe in the pursuit of a sustainable society,the company's social goal as it stands is for DryBath, and other products like it is to change the way society practices personal hygiene, and to provide low cost personal hygiene alternatives to the poor. Their values comprise of disciplined integrity,inclusive innovation & mindful ideology(Linkedin,n.d).

Drybath product service and offering

DryBath

The world’s first bath-substituting skin gel, DryBath Gel can leave your skin clean without water & remove full-body odour. DryBath is an innovative gel that cleans your body by using the motion of your hands to gently remove dead skin cells & full-body odour, without damaging your skin’s natural protective barrier or the need for much water.). It is a proprietary blend of naturally-antiseptic essential oils, bioflavonoids, and odour-eliminating Tawas (used as a natural deodorant powder/rock in Asia for centuries) (Headboy,n.d). DryBath provides its users with a fun and convenient alternative to traditional bathing and showering, a precious tool for helping people to lower the excessive water use that is leading to a looming global water crisis. (Headboy,n.d)In poor communities, like Marishane's native Africa, the gel will protect people who often die from easily treatable diseases caused by bacteria that thrive in stagnant water. Based on his knowledge from living in poor communities (BuisnessInsider,2013).

Excel @Uni

Excel@Uni acts as a dedicated programme for bursary students to receive support for their personal & professional development during their university careers.

Polymath Innovation

Polymath Innovation is an advisory practice, focused on helping established organizations to develop value-adding innovation initiatives that they are currently unable to be developed in-house (Headboy,n.d).

Business organogram of HeadBoy Industries Inc.

Successes and challenges of HeadBoy Industries Inc

Successes

The success of Headboy industries stem from Ludwick Marishane’s functional expertise. Four years after Marishane hatched the idea for his ground-breaking product, he won the 2011 Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award for his germicidal Bath-substituting skin gel.He was rated as the best student entrepreneur in the world. Google named him as one of the 12 brightest young minds in the world. TIME Magazine named him as one of the Top 30 people that are changing the world in 2013. He was placed in the Forbes Africa magazine, under 30 African Young Entrepreneurs. He received the Design Indaba MTN Special Award in 2012. He was placed under the Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business & Innovation in 2015 to name a few (Linkedin,n.d). Ludwick Marishane, hopes the gel will be a life saver for people who don’t have access to clean water or sanitation, currently a crisis affecting millions around the world. DryBath is now also manufactured commercially for clients such as hotels, music festival organisers, major global airlines – one of which is British Airways – and governments for soldiers in the field. The product is also attractive for charities, which will be able to distribute the packets to regions and communities in need (Time,2012). It’s not yet available for consumer use but it will soon be sold online (Ted,2012).

Challenges

Marishane faced a few challenges along with his success, he initially approached many charity organisations for support, but says he was turned back because of his age and because of doubt that his concept would ever work. A recent challenge the company has been facing is pricing, they have constantly been struggling to produce and distribute the product at prices that are affordable for people in water-insecure communities As a startup, Headboy industries had to create a parallel product (DryBath Premium) for the urban market such as campers/hikers, parents with kids, shared/public-shower users, etc. that can be sold at a reasonable margin to allow them to make the original DryBath product affordable (Headboy,n.d).

Why have we selected HeadBoy Industries Inc. ?

DryBath is an amazing product that’s not only innovative but has the potential to solve global problems. What is amazing about the story of DryBath is how Marishane got there. He had an idea, but that idea was just, an idea. His next step was to do his research, write a business plan, and a patent. The ambition and talent Marishane demonstrates, as well as his ingenuity saw DryBath become a reality (Innovation excellence,2013).

Many of us live in environments where we’re surrounded by all types of technology, so we tend to take the accessibility it provides to information for granted. We often forget that technology enables us in so many ways, not just to communicate with one another, but to work for ourselves and enrich our own lives. The story of Marishane’s innovative product, DryBath, demonstrates the fundamental role technology plays in developing ideas that turn into realities. The story of DryBath teaches us that if we really want ideas that change and shape the world, we need to make sure we create environments where they can thrive(Innovation excellence,2013).Marishane admires the everyday entrepreneurs and urges all aspiring entrepreneurs to have this approach to business, because every great business big or small continues to succeed on (Headboy,n.d).