Pandemic-induced cosmetics business gets $150K cash boost

A cosmetic business that began in 2020 during and because of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown received a $150,000 cash boost at the St Ann Agri-Tourism Business Symposium on Friday at Seville Heritage Park in St Ann.

When the pandemic interrupted the veterinary science studies of College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) student Abigail Bourne some two years ago, she was left in a quandary.

The Farmers Heights, St Ann resident and her husband, former CASE student Christopher James, and their two sons, Lael and Asher, were among the many Jamaicans affected by the lockdown, put in place to minimise the spread of the virus.

Christopher was already in beekeeping and other farming activities and there was need to be cost effective to save money and also to find ways to bring in additional income.

“I was studying veterinary science and the pull towards agro-processing really came during the pandemic when I had to really think about ... OK, going out is not a good idea because I had small children, what can I do within the space to stretch the money that I did have as well as bring in good food and additional funds?” Abigail told The Gleaner. “That’s when we started really looking into permaculture as a practice, which was very cost effective,” she added.

That was the move that eventually led to the formation of Bee Indulgent, a cosmetics business with a focus on all-natural and unusual ingredients that Abigail developed to produce bee balm, which is made from a combination of bees wax, avocado oil, and coconut oil.

“I produce my own avocado oil and I use it with bees wax and coconut oil to make a luxurious, what I call, bee balm but what you may call a body butter. I started production in 2020 during the pandemic; we were looking for ways to make life more comfortable while we were under lockdown,” she explained.

“My husband does beekeeping and typically when we have an excess of wax, he can use it for his things, but I wanted to experiment and I went ahead and tried a combination of bees wax, avocado and coconut oil to create this really light and foamy body wash.”

But like many other small businesses in Jamaica, the lack of connectivity in the Farmers Heights area is a hindrance to her small business and also to her children being able to access learning online.

The Boost Up competition invited participants to develop and submit proposals for a chance to win one of five $150,000 cash grants towards their business.

Abigail was delighted with the commitment for the cash, which she said would go towards acquiring machinery and boosting production, and said it was a positive start.

“I’m always open to additional funding. It is a good starting point and really and truly what we would like to do is to get land or get access to land to be able to expand not only the production of avocado oil, but as well as the production of our bees.”

Abigail believes there is space in the market for bee balm.

She explained: “Everyone’s looking for a more organic way to love on their body, love on their skin, love on their hair; so we are looking at a way we can use simple ingredients to give you just that. Avocado oil is one of the most nourishing oils on the market and although it is not produced here, now it is one of the most rapidly growing markets. Because we all know about the love of avocado, you can imagine how well a product like avocado oil can do.”

Although the avocado oil is relatively expensive, producing her own has brought her cost down.

On a visit to the facility on Saturday, The Gleaner was taken through the process of producing the avocado oil.

Her long-term goal is “to have a space where I can produce things that I love”.

“I picture myself on a farm where I’m able to plant my avocados and have my processing facility there as well as looking into other avenues that make me happy, like beekeeping and honey production which we already do,” Abigail said.

carl.gilchrist@gleanerjm.com