DAYANITSA MAURICIA
“Some were big factories, others where lofts in houses, or simply a corner in the living room”
"It was quite late and raining when he proposed to bring us to a factory that was a 1‑hour drive"
During our trip, we had two different drivers. Where the smart people rented a car we decided to be adventurous and concur all in Indian style. After a while our second driver noticed that we were looking for hair. It was quite late and raining when he proposed to bring us to a factory that was a 1‑hour drive away. I was not sure if it would be worth it but since I was already in India we decided to give it a try. And that’s where I found what I was looking for. The factory was big, organized and very clean. The hair was the highest quality, off course the price was also higher but my goal was the best hair. After inspecting the hairs, and negotiating about the price I placed an order for 10 kilos. With bags full of hair, we left two days later back to the Netherlands.
Be unbeweaveable
After arriving home I still did not have a business name. Together with Nilson a good friend of mine we created the name ‘Be unbeweaveable’. My niece Afrika helped me creating my first pictures and also setting up Instagram and Facebook, I had no clue how to use hashtags since I was on social media for the first time. To launch my business I organized a party in ‘1nul8’ in Rotterdam. Since I did not have a big budget, I visited several stores in the city center to ask for items to place in my goodie bag, a lady from the ICI Paris agreed to do Make-up and Salem ( Hair by Jerusalem) a good friend of mine came over to do the hair of all visitors. My brothers were helping in the wardrobe and my other brothers served Cake pops. A friend of my sister was so nice to make pictures. Proud fact: my white dress, linen bags and all tablecloths were made by my mother.
I did not make on sale during my launch party, but I was surrounded by the support from family and friends. And by visitors that believed in my business.
Since I did not have a physical store I divided my living room with a big banner. I had a small Ikea closet with hair, I hanged up a price list and I had a bar set for visitors. Another great opportunity that the manager from ICI Paris gave me was to have my own table every Saturday to promote my business. I’m very grateful for everyone that supported my dream.