Scientist produces indigenous skin care products

Bodi Bata skin care products was founded by Dr Barbara Keitumetse Mashope (47) from Kimberly in the Northern Cape Province. She is a scientist with qualifications from esteemed Universities such as UFS and WITS. “My mission is to create natural skin care products while also providing healthier alternatives to conventional petroleum based products,” said Mashope. “I want to re-establish the connection between people and nature because I feel that it has been lost especially our indigenous knowledge on how to make skin care products. My products were developed with the knowledge acquired and used prior to colonialism. During those days, black people applied animal fat on their skin. Hence my products are currently all oil based with natural ingredients,” she explained. Mashope began developing her products in 2011-2012 while she was a full time employee. “Initially, this began as a side hustle. I would make products over the weekend or when clients placed orders. At that time my friends and family were the only clients I had. Their positive feedback motivated me to start taking my business seriously because I could see that the products were helping them with other skin problems such as Eczema which I had not thought off,” she said. Bodi Bata skin care products started trading on a full time basis in 2015. “I realized that business is an avenue that could help me support myself and would allow me to survive without having to rely on a job,” she said. Her business, as she mentioned is a benevolent expression of her cultural heritage, her scientific training and her spiritual journey. “It is and continues to be the biggest adventure of my life,” she explained. Having role models such as Oprah Winfrey, my late father G.M Mashope and Rudolf Steiner helped to steer my life in the right direction. “My late father was able to transform his life from a child who entered high school with no shoes to an adult who was awarded a partial Fulbright Scholarship, and studied at an Ivy League University in the 1980s. He was pivotal in building the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature in the 1990s.” “Oprah Winfrey, transformed her life of poverty to become the first self-made African American Billionaire. Her talk show, affirmed so much of my thinking and ideas in the late 1990s and early 2000s,” said Mashope. She adds:”Rudolf Steiner’s work enabled him to establish a schooling system (The Waldorf Schools), that is still one the best in world, in my opinion.” When asked to mention some of the best advice she has ever received, Mashope said: “When I was young my late father gave me one important advice. He told me to chase my dreams with everything I’ve got because naturally young people have few responsibilities.“I believe that youngsters shouldn’t wait for the degree or the funding. They should start building the dream they were born with and came here to express. It makes all the difference. You can see the people who have given up on their dreams, they are almost lifeless,” she said. With all that she has achieved, Mashope still has bigger plans for the future. “In ten years time I see myself on a farm surrounded by lots of plants, or in a greenhouse working with plants or in a laboratory making new products with plants. I would also like to build a more transformative school in the Northern Cape. I believe that our education system is outdated and does not teach kids how to create with the knowledge they have gathered,” she explained. My motto... To know thyself is the beginning of all wisdom (Socrates) Current read ‘Knowledge of the higher worlds and its attainment’, by Rudolf Steiner