What began as a venture into herbal juices has grown into a new frontier in personal care for Ghanaian entrepreneur Sylvia S.A. Demanya. Popularly known as Dr. Noni, she has built a brand around the noni plant in the Volta Region, moving from beverages and remedies to her latest innovation, a natural deodorant spray now gaining traction in Ghana and beyond.
As Managing Director of Syldem Company Ltd, Demanya said she saw early on that the fruit’s potential stretched well beyond drinks. Her push into deodorants, she explained, was a calculated move to tap into Ghana’s growing youth market. “I started with the spray because we had a niche for deodorant. Our niche is for the youth because they are more energetic and they sweat a lot,” she told The High Street Journal.
To reach this audience, she took an unconventional route, promoting the product through schools. The strategy proved effective, quickly expanding demand from classrooms to households. “Immediately kids go back to the house then you get orders,” she noted.
But it was her exhibitions in East Africa that revealed even greater opportunities. There, Demanya discovered that deodorant use was less entrenched, making the market unusually receptive. “With that study alone I realized that the product as a natural deodorant has already worked for them,” she said, adding that cultural attitudes toward personal care opened up a valuable niche.
Still, scaling the business has not been easy. Rising orders are met with persistent logistical and financial hurdles. Exporting products and clearing them at ports, she said, remains a costly, drawn-out process she has had to handle on her own. “This is something I am doing personally, all by myself, my business not being supported by anybody from any source.”
Her frustrations extend to banks and state agencies that advertise support for small businesses but rarely deliver in practice. “You go to the bank, they are not ready,” she said flatly.
Yet Demanya is far from discouraged. She believes her brand can take advantage of Africa’s push toward regional integration, though she is cautious about whether the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will live up to its promise. “If I’m producing even from Tanzania, I should be able to export to Ghana. That is my belief,” she said.
She is equally clear-eyed in her advice to other entrepreneurs. Success, she argues, cannot be outsourced to the government. Instead, she urges business owners to take control of their own growth and to view the continent itself as an open marketplace. With the right drive, she said, it is possible to produce in any African country and still thrive.
