Dot your i’s and cross your t’s

The idea for indigenous beauty brand Girl Native was born through founder Rawinia Rimene’s struggle to find products tailored towards wāhine Māori and their skin types.

It didn’t take long before the world took notice.

Founded in 2018 with $100 and some YouTube tutorials on how to set up an e-commerce store, the startup hit the financial goal of $100,000-plus in revenue within a year.

Its products were finalists in the 2019 Pure Beauty Awards in London, the 2020 Global Pure Beauty Awards in Amsterdam and included in the 2021 Emmy Awards celebrity gift bags. Year on year, the business has experienced 40 percent growth.

Despite her international reach, Rimene has held fast to where she comes from. Guided by rongoā māori and tikanga, each of Girl Native’s five core products use 100 percent natural and raw ingredients locally and ethically sourced in Aotearoa New Zealand. She also incorporates reiki, a Japanese energy healing technique, into the formulation process.

Rimene’s journey into business wasn’t straightforward. Growing up under the care of her grandparents in Ōpōtiki, in the Bay of Plenty, she displayed a natural aptitude for learning, entering high school at age 11.

But high school wasn’t right for a hands-on learner, and Rimene found herself increasingly involved with the wrong crowd. At 16, she left school, moved out of home and worked in hospitality. Over the next few years, she became a chef and had her first child. 

After a dark period battling addiction in her early twenties, she made the decision to return to education. Now in her thirties, she holds an impressive list of certificates (in money management, small business management and skincare formulation), diplomas (in business management, project management and makeup artistry) and degrees (in Māori studies and in entrepreneurship). 

She’s also a mother of four, considering her kids her greatest achievement and the inspiration behind all she does. 

Rimene is currently working on a new product range and rebrand for Girl Native, launching in 2024, and plans to grow the business into a world-leading, multibillion-dollar brand within the next five years.

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What do you wish you knew when starting out that you only learned along the way?

That I should have done what I’m doing now sooner.

If I’d had confidence in myself and known that I’m enough and capable of achieving whatever I set my mind to, then I would have done it way earlier.

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What went wrong along the way, and what did you learn from the experience?

When I first started out, I was scammed out of a huge amount of money. An overseas customer made a bulk wholesale order, and they used a fraudulent credit card.

I was so naive at the time and just excited about one of my first big international orders, so I made all the products, sent them out and lost it all. I had to pay back the money that was paid to Shopify as well.

From that, I learnt to have good online security on all of my platforms – I think two-factor authentication was only starting to come out at that time. And really, just dotting my i’s, crossing my t’s, and not allowing excitement to cloud my judgement.

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Who did you work with that’s been helpful on your journey?

Definitely the Pure Beauty Global Awards when I was nominated for Best Natural Skin Care product – I think that was Girl Native’s first award.

I went to the ceremony in London, and attending in person was one of the best things I could have done for my future self. By doing that, I connected with different organisations and people on an international scale, which allowed me to open more doors and get into the Emmy Awards as a sponsor for the gift bags and feature in British Vogue and Glamour magazines. It also opened more doors for me in London and the [wider] UK.

Creative HQ was also amazing. When you’re an entrepreneur or a small business owner starting out, it’s a little bit lonely, especially when you don’t have friends and family already in business. Creative HQ’s incubator course allowed me to be in spaces and connect with people on the same level as me, and kind of catapulted me forward.

Through them, the New Zealand reps for the Cartier Women’s Initiative [an annual international entrepreneurship programme] got in contact, which opened a really big opportunity for me in terms of being a woman founder on an international scale.

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What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

My old commercial landlord, who was taken aback by how young my partner and I were when we first entered into business, told me, ‘take what resonates and leave what doesn’t’.

Lots of people are going to give you advice, but you don’t have to take it all on, it’s not all going to be relevant to you.

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What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Have a plan; set goals.

I created a vision board before starting my business, and I still have it. I recently came across it and can cross off almost everything.

I don’t want to go into manifestation and the law of attraction or anything because it all comes down to hard work, but if you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hands.

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And finally, what was your first entrepreneurial moment?

Do you remember the mixed bag of lollies like the Pascal Lolly Mix that you’d get at the dairy?

I would go to the shop in the morning before school and run home with it in my bag – I lived in the country about 20 minutes away from my school, so I had to make sure that I wouldn’t miss the van.

Before the morning bell rang for class, kids would come over and ask me if I had such and such a lolly, and I’d give them a handful or so for a dollar. We weren’t allowed to do this at school, but I guess it’s my first entrepreneurial moment.

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Founder Feedback is a weekly series asking founders about their startup journeys. If you have a story to share, reach out to mary@caffeinedaily.co

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