When Tanya du Bois could not find the products she wanted for her son, she began making her own at home. Eighteen years later, Naturals Beauty has grown into an established South African business and earned her the 2026 CapeTalk title in Nedbank Business Ignite.
Eighteen years ago, Tanya du Bois had one immediate concern: finding everyday products she felt comfortable using on her young son.
Following his autism diagnosis, the family’s paediatric neurologist encouraged them to pay closer attention to the products they used each day and reduce their exposure to unnecessary chemicals where possible. This included everything from cleaning products and food preservatives to body lotions and personal-care products.
Tanya began reading labels and researching ingredients, but finding suitable alternatives proved difficult. The natural products available were not always effective, affordable or readily accessible in South Africa.
“I was stuck. There were no products on the shelf that could help my son, only potentially harm him, so I had to take things into my own hands.”
Tanya had no background in cosmetic science, but she was willing to learn. A 1960s natural home-remedies book passed down by her grandmother became her first point of reference.
Working from her kitchen, she began making small batches of body lotions, washes and butters. She researched ingredients, tested different combinations, adjusted her formulations and documented the results. At that stage, her only aim was to create products she felt comfortable using on her family.
Other mothers in the autism support groups she attended soon began asking what she was using on her son.
“They were looking for the same answers that I had been and were struggling to find them. They started asking me where they could get the same products I was using,” Tanya recalls.
Those requests gradually turned her kitchen experiments into a side business. Small batches became customer orders, demand continued to grow and Tanya began considering whether the products she had developed at home could become a formal range.
From kitchen batches to a formal business
Moving beyond homemade formulations required expertise Tanya did not yet have.
Tanya wanted to develop more sophisticated products without losing the principles that had guided her from the beginning. Finding a cosmetic chemist who understood that balance became one of her first major challenges.
She spent close to a year searching for someone who was willing to work with a small natural skincare company and understood what she wanted to achieve. Several potential partners encouraged her to take cheaper or easier routes that did not fit her vision for the business.
There were times when she considered walking away. Eventually, she found a cosmetic chemist who understood the brief, beginning a professional relationship that remains in place today.
The partnership allowed Naturals Beauty to move beyond Tanya’s original kitchen formulations and develop into a fully fledged skincare business.
Its product range continued to grow in response to the needs of Tanya’s family. When her daughter was born, she developed a baby range. As her son entered his teenage years, she created a teenage skincare range. When her sister and mother began looking for more active skincare options, the company’s serum range followed.
Today, Naturals Beauty manufactures more than 50 products across its skincare, body care, hair care and family ranges.
The company has also expanded beyond its own branded products. Tanya has established a bespoke product-development division that works with other businesses to create ranges from the initial concept and formulation through to the finished product.
The work draws on the same approach that led her to start Naturals Beauty: listen carefully, understand what is missing and develop something that meets a genuine need.
Developing products for other brands
One of Naturals Beauty’s latest projects is a collaboration with Cape Town wine estate Klein Constantia.
The company is developing a broad bespoke range for the estate, spanning body care, skincare and men’s grooming. The range is scheduled to launch in November 2026.
The formulations incorporate ingredients and by-products from the winemaking process, including grape seed extract and grape-derived material used for exfoliation.
For Tanya, the project shows how product development can express the character of a business in a practical and original way.
“I love working with brands to find what makes them unique and then turning that story into a product. Every brand has its own identity, its own ingredients, and its own story to tell, and the exciting part for me is finding a way to bring that story to life through a product,” she says.
It is a long way from the small batches Tanya first made at her kitchen table.
Naturals Beauty has been built largely without outside investment. Tanya has continually put her own money back into the company, funding its development as it grew.
One of her most significant investments was moving one of the company’s ranges from plastic to glass packaging. It was a major financial commitment for a business that had grown organically, but Tanya believed it was the right decision for the product and its customers.
That willingness to trust her judgement has remained consistent throughout the company’s 18-year history.
Recognition for an 18-year business story
Tanya’s work has now earned her the 2026 CapeTalk title in Nedbank Business Ignite, presented by Nedbank in partnership with Radio 702 and CapeTalk.
This year’s competition centred on the theme My Pain. My Purpose. My Solution. and attracted more than 740 entries.
Tanya was selected as the CapeTalk winner by a judging panel that included entrepreneur Tuli Magubane. Her story stood out as an example of how a deeply personal need could lead to a practical solution and, ultimately, a sustainable business.
The prize includes a R200,000 cash injection, mentorship, national exposure and support through Nedbank’s SimplyBiz platform.
For Tanya, the recognition marks another stage in Naturals Beauty’s development rather than the end of the story.
The company’s future is not simply about placing more products on more shelves. Its next phase will focus more strongly on innovation and bespoke product development, helping other businesses turn their own ingredients, stories and ideas into finished ranges.
Eighteen years after Tanya made her first products at home, Naturals Beauty is still guided by the instinct that started it all: recognising a need and working out how to meet it.
