São Paulo – A little over ten years ago, they were just handmade soaps that would leave the hands of their maker, Adriana Ribeiro, to reach bus users in São Paulo. Ever since, however, the soap has come to coexist with other cosmetics and perfumes at Adriana’ small factory, to be sold under a new brand 5º Elemento, and even to wash the hands, faces and entire bodies of people overseas.
That more or less sums up the story of a micro-businesswoman from São Paulo, Adriana, and her small business. Only it has a lot more interesting details to it. The best of them is the story of Adriana herself. She used to work at an advertising agency when she had the idea of making handmade soap and selling them to her friends on the bus that she used to take to work. Some time later, she started selling at shopping centres.
"Early on it was hard, but I had a dream, I was in love with my new artisanal occupation and it was cosmetics, which I have always enjoyed!," she said in an interview to ANBA. Adriana recounts that she used to make soap with her husband in their home kitchen. In the beginning, the enterprise was named Hórus Produtos Naturais, and was highly dependent on the entrepreneur’s leisure – or lunch – hours.
"I would head for the office to work loaded with product to deliver. I used my lunchtime to send the delivery guy around. It was crazy. I used to take two buses to work, loaded with stuff, and didn’t even take lunch breaks. Whatever money would come in, we invested it in new essences, new shapes. Slowly, we raised the capital to buy raw material directly from the manufactures, which enabled us to charge less, and we could offer our customers lower prices than the competition, without compromising quality."
Adriana remained in the ad agency until 2004, when she decided to dedicate herself fully to her business. The husband became a partner, and as she realized that handmade soap was going out of style, the entrepreneur decided to expand her product line and make buffing cream, hydrating cream and perfume. "Now I realize it was the best thing we’ve ever done," she said. It was the soap, though, that at one point got exported to the United States, Portugal and Bolivia.
To the United States, the products travelled with a customer that would come to Brazil to get them. Sales to Portugal took place because a buyer saw the soap on the company website. And to Bolivia, the soap was shipped through a reseller in the Brazilian state of Acre. "Soap was easier to transport and to pack," said Adriana, explaining why she didn’t keep exporting as she turned to perfume-making as her main focus.
Presently, Adriana is focusing on expanding sales to the Brazilian market, even though she does not rule out exports, including the Arab countries. "I believe that selling to Arab countries could be very interesting, in particular for our products made from Amazonian essences such as muru-muru, copaíba, buriti and others. People overseas love natural cosmetics with Amazonian appeal," she claimed.
The brand concentrates its sales in city of São Paulo and in some cities in the interior of the namesake state, but has shipped products to other states such as Bahia, Acre, Roraima, Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Pará and Minas Gerais.
Despite the expansion of sales, Adriana still takes care of everything herself, with her husband. "We make it, then let it soak, then filter it, put it in the container and pack it. And then we go out and sell it ourselves, in addition to having a few resellers," Adriana explained. Currently, 5º Elemento makes around 300 bottles of perfume each month. The perfumes and cosmetics are created by Adriana as well.
Contact:
5º Elemento
Telephone: (+55 11) 2341-4443
Site: www.quintoelementobrasil.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
