The ways of the past are definitely coming to an end and so is the tradition of leaving school and securing a job in an office.

The pace at which the world is going requires flexibility from the youth, especially in the business of making money.

No doubt that entrepreneurship is on the rise the world over, and Jamaica is not left behind.

Tawana Johnson (TJ) is a 21-year-old University of the West Indies student, who has already understood the power of entrepreneurship, having developed her own haircare line called Candy Moisture.

teenAGE had a sit down with the young entrepreneur about her business.

teenAGE: Where did the idea come from to start your brand?

TJ: I got inspired to develop a product for moisturising different hair types based on questions I always got from other women about how I do the same thing with my hair. I had always made an at-home moisturiser, which worked well with my hair and was all natural, so I thought that if I could just develop my recipe a little more, I could bottle and share it with others.

teenAGE: Tell us about your products

TJ: Candy Moisture Mousse is so special and loved not only because it does a great job at moisturising every hair type, but it smells and looks like candy. It is candy-themed and provides a fantastic user experience for the customer, which is all that we aim to do, make haircare enjoyable, and not a chore. Our satin pillowcases are also a big hit for our female customers. This is because sleeping on satin helps with moisture retention in the hair. Not known to many, cotton pillowcases actually do not help our hair at all if we leave our hair exposed at night and sleep on them. Cotton dries your hair out, breaks your ends, and many females hate sleeping with scarves on their heads because of many different reasons — they sleep it off by morning, etc. So, the satin pillowcases are the perfect tools to fix that problem. The inflatable hair-dryer attachment that we have is another fun approach to hair drying and haircare. It inflates like a balloon on your head and is attached to your blow-dryer. It basically is an insulating heat cap that locks in the air so your hair can dry 80 per cent faster. You can use it for deep conditioning or hair drying. You don’t need to hold your blowdryer over your head and kill your biceps and triceps and it’s an alternative to the hooded dryer that burns your ears, so that’s what makes this tool special.

teenAGE: What are the ingredients in your hair product?

TJ: The main ingredient in our Candy Moisture Mousse is shea. The product is shea-based. As you know, shea butter is a natural alternative for moisturising the hair or skin. In addition to shea, it is infused with coconut oil, vitamin e oil, and apricot kernel oil, all of which are natural and chemical free options for moisturising, preventing split ends, aiding with dry/itchy scalp and helping repair overall damaged hair.

teenAGE: Where do you source your ingredients? 

TJ: The raw materials and ingredients are sourced locally and internationally. For things that are hard to obtain in Jamaican or are overpriced, they are sourced in the US and shipped here. In order to facilitate mass production, some materials have to be sourced abroad because it is not always the most costly alternative to buying them locally.

teenAGE: Why should we trust your formulation? 

TJ: Firstly, as stated previously, NOTHING in my product is chemically based, thus it is not harmful to individuals. I use only natural ingredients in my product, things that come from the earth. The product has been on shelves for almost a year now and has been tested and tried on many different hair types without any complaints.

With all this innovation, teenAGE had to ask her about the challenges that come with entrepreneurship.

TJ: Firstly, I had a lack of start-up capital. I started very small, probably with about 20 jars or less of Candy Moisture Mousse. To my amazement, the demand seemed to skyrocket overnight, so I was not able to supply all of the demand right away. However, I took my time and built my business off profits, and got support from family members to be able to eventually meet my demand. That, to me, was the biggest challenge I had upon starting.

teenAGE: Do you have any tips on how to kick-start their entrepreneurial dreams?

TJ: I would say always believe in yourself, and speak about the things that you want come to fruition. Before I started my brand, I would always say I wanted to own my own business in high school. I didn’t know what business I was going to own or where I was going to start. But when someone asked what I wanted to do in the future or what my dream job was, I always said, “I want to own and operate my own business.” Years later, that’s exactly what’s happening to me. Even though I have so much more room to grow, I’ve started the journey to getting where I want to be professionally and I would say that it is partly due to me “speaking my dreams into reality”.