Natural skincare start-up Jamizola Naturals is positioning itself in Jamaica’s growing wellness market, offering plant-based alternatives to conventional personal care products.

Founded in 2024 by medical technologist Cherry-Ann Boyce, the company began as a home-based operation after she created a neem-based skin therapy cream to treat her daughter’s eczema. What started as a single product made in a small home lab has since evolved into a full line of natural skincare and haircare solutions, all developed and packaged in-house.

“I came out of corporate when I had her [the youngest daughter], and she had eczema,” Boyce told the Jamaica Observer during the recent staging of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s Expo Jamaica. “So I made this product for her, the Neem Skin Therapy.”

That same motivation sparked the creation of her second product, a natural deodorant, after her eldest daughter developed breast lumps at age 13. As a medical technologist Boyce linked the issue to antiperspirants and their tendency to block pores, disrupting the body’s natural detox functions.

Boyce explained that her daughter, an active teenager, had begun to experience body odour and was given a commercial deodorant the family assumed would work well. However, she later discovered that the antiperspirant blocked her daughter’s pores, preventing natural sweating and causing toxins to build up in her system, an issue she believes contributed to the development of breast lumps.

Boyce’s formulation avoided harsh chemicals and instead included ingredients like shea butter, cocoa butter, cornstarch, and magnesium hydroxide.

“It doesn’t block your pores,” she told Sunday Finance. “It just works naturally. The combination is what makes this product extremely effective.”

From those initial two products Jamizola Naturals has expanded into a broad range of skincare and haircare essentials, including black soaps for teenage acne after seeing her eldest daughter also struggle with acne; then body oils, shampoos, conditioners, toners, and serums. All formulas are researched, tested, and crafted by Boyce herself, who still “sits in the lab” to develop new solutions, which she says usually come at night.

Although the business started out of a need to find a solution for her children’s issues, her motivation to continue came from a personal health journey that reshaped her outlook.

“I’m a breast cancer survivor,” she shared. “When I got diagnosed about two years ago I fully understood the need to go all-out natural when it comes to skincare.”

That deeper understanding solidified her commitment to clean ingredients. She says her family has since eliminated commercial personal care products entirely. Anything for the skin her family needs, she creates it. But Jamizola’s launch didn’t follow a traditional business plan. Boyce started with no capital, just a belief in her products and a willingness to let go of household items in order to fund her first batch.

“I sold three sauce spoons and a vacuum cleaner. My husband came and asked me, ‘Where’s the vacuum?’ I haven’t answered him to this day,” she said, laughing. “We had gotten those sauce spoons as a wedding gift. He is still looking for them.”

Word of mouth drove early sales. Friends and family used the products, saw results, and began to share them with others. Boyce reinvested every dollar back into the business, without taking on any loans. Her only external funding came from a US-based entrepreneurship pitch competition in which she placed sixth out of 60 entrepreneurs and received a US$2,500 grant, her first official capital injection.

Despite its grass roots beginning, Jamizola Naturals now exports, with 17 per cent of sales coming from international buyers through its website. The products are also available at Jamaica’s international airports, and 70 per cent of sales remain local, with the remainder coming from Barbados where she is originally from. Though the dream is to grow the business, she asserts that access to finance remains the main barrier.

“I think institutions are more willing to help people between 22 and 35 [years old],” said Boyce. “But when you get a little older, I don’t know; there are a lot more hoops to jump through.”

Still, she’s committed to scaling up and eventually taking the business full-time. Her vision is for Jamizola Naturals to not just be a niche brand but a trusted household name for people seeking natural, science-backed solutions.

 Jamizola Naturals’ full product display at the recent JMEA Expo Jamaica, held at the National Arena in St Andrew. The booth featured the brand’s expanding range of handmade skincare and haircare products.

Founder of Jamizola Naturals Medical Technologist Cherry-Ann Boyce, displays some of her products at her booth at Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association Expo Jamaica at the National Arena.