When the founders behind Malakyt noticed an interesting shift on Twitter back in 2019, where thousands of users would ask for reliable beauty services, they recognised that this was more than a trend, but a demand that wasn’t being fulfilled. They saw a gap, an opportunity, and ultimately, the beginning of a platform that would transform how beauty and fashion professionals are discovered across South Africa.
At the time, the founders knew of only a handful of beauty-tech solutions operating locally. The market was wide open, and the need was undeniable. The idea for Malakyt was born, evolving the beauty scene in South Africa, and displaying the need for tech-enabled solutions in the industry. In this founder focus article, we speak to Aphiwe Meyiwa, the co-founder of Malakyt.
The Birth of Malakyt
“One of the biggest early turning points was Mihlali Ndamase agreeing to work with us,” he says. Mihlali Ndamase is a well-known entrepreneur and one of the first beauty influencers in South Africa, having worked with various brands and built a community of millions of supporters through her content.
“Ndamase chose to work with us amongst a pool of proposals from other teams and established companies, but she chose us because our vision aligned with her own goals for the beauty industry.” With Mihlali joining Malakyt as the Chief Executive Officer, the founders gained the confidence to fully invest in building a platform that could scale.
Meyiwa’s personal experience also shaped the direction of Malakyt. Before the platform existed, Aphiwe had already been developing a public Safety App, gaining valuable exposure to the startup and product development process. But when COVID-19 halted the Safety App entirely, only Malakyt remained. “Looking back, that was a blessing,” says Meyiwa. “It prepared me for the role I now play as Chief Operations Officer.”
Malakyt was conceptualised in 2019, and after two years of deliberate product development and a carefully timed release strategy, the platform was ready to launch in October 2021.
A Platform Built for Visibility, Not Virality
Malakyt was designed to solve a common problem for beauty and fashion professionals. “The main issue with just relying on social media to showcase an individual’s business is that social media is inherently based on engagement, and therefore a business owner would have to invest quite heavily in engagement to adequately get their business out there.”
But Malakyt is based on location. Therefore, a service provider will now be competing in a much smaller search pool for visibility, unlike social media platforms and and have a higher probability of being discovered by users looking for their services in a particular area.
The platform remains free, with an optional upgrade for increased visibility at a one-time payment of R399 per year. Reliability and quality are built into the platform’s design. While the platform isn’t as competitive for visibility as social media platforms, there are ways for beauty SMEs to ensure their visibility.
“The profile section has been designed to give the customer as much info about a small business as possible. The search algorithm uses profile completeness, likes and ratings, and engagement with users to show a customer the best profiles for their search terms first, while also showing the customer a comprehensive list of results,” he says.
Social media integration is used to enhance profiles, and the platform audits and suspends unreliable accounts. “Due to the inherent reliability design in the Malakyt platform, we have only ever had two reports of any issues in its entire existence, which were quickly resolved.”
Growth from MVP to a Global Marketplace
Meyiwa highlighted Malakyt’s growth journey by explaining that the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) of the platform only had one category, which was the Beauty category, with four service types: Hair, Makeup, Nails, and Barbers. “The platform now has the ‘Beauty’ and the ‘Fashion’ category with a total of 19 service types across both categories.”
Originally available only in Gauteng, Malakyt has since expanded internationally. Profile features have grown to include videos, social media links, and AI-based insights. The founders of Malakyt have learnt many valuable lessons about building a tech-enabled marketplace in South Africa.
“There are multiple distinct income sectors, and trying your best to cater for all can prove quite difficult. Therefore, we realised that simply keeping a marketplace as simple and effective as possible has been the key to its success.”
Building Sustainability Through New Revenue Streams
Like many marketplaces, Malakyt faced challenges with subscription conversion. While global benchmarks sit between 2,5% and 5%, Malakyt’s conversion peaked at 8,5%, settling around 6% – slightly above average but still limiting revenue against a sizable database.
This pushed the team to diversify sooner than expected. Here’s how Malakyt diversified its income:
- Corporate Beauty Services: Connecting companies with vetted beauticians for events, press conferences, competitions, and more.
- Malakyt Masterclasses: upskilling beauty professionals.
- Malakyt Voucher Programme: enabling sponsored purchases for services.
“Initially, Mihlali Ndamase’s social media presence gave us a major boost in terms of adoption and uptake, but we are now having to implement broader and more conventional marketing strategies to increase the rate of adoption and use of the Malakyt platform,” he adds.
This led to a long-term approach that includes research, impact initiatives, and social development.
One standout project is the Malakyt Women’s Sports Programme, where the team sponsors beauty vouchers at community tournaments. This has helped them reap several benefits, which include:
- Exposing Malakyt to diverse communities.
- Providing value to organisers (often as the only sponsor).
- Guaranteeing new customers for the platform.
- Stimulating local micro-economies.
- Supporting township-based beauticians.
These efforts are already producing results, from meaningful partnerships with major organisations to a platform with over 4 000 active service providers nationwide.
A Personalised Beauty Experience
Malakyt prioritises human interaction. “Most platforms have a booking feature that bypasses the verbal agreement required for the booking. We decided not to have this feature because we believe that the process of seeking beauty services is a very personal one, and the ability of a customer to achieve their desired look needs to be maximised.”
Customers can contact specialists via WhatsApp, phone, email, or social media to discuss their specific needs before confirming a booking. “By inadvertently persuading the customer to first have a chat with the specialist and coupling that with making sure they have access to a comprehensive list of options, we ensure that the customer gets maximum guarantee of services purchased,” says the co-founder.
Empowering Beauty Entrepreneurs Across Communities
Malakyt offers a platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their skills affordably and reliably. “On top of that, we recruit the best performing entrepreneurs from the platform and contract them to work on clients from large organisations at corporate prices. Thus giving them further reward for their hard work.”
The platform also supports under-resourced communities and pageants. The top three contestants receive Malakyt vouchers to spend on the entrepreneurs registered to Malakyt for all their beauty and fashion needs during their reign as the finalists. Additionally, Malakyt markets entrepreneurs via their social online presence, through the Recreate With Malakyt series on YouTube, as well as testimonial videos on social media.
The Future of Malakyt
Co-Founder, Aphiwe Meyiwa, has given us a sneak peek into what Malakyt hopes to accomplish in the future. “For the next five to ten years, the vision is to expand the operations of the platform to Nigeria, the USA, as well as Europe.”
Additionally, the platform aims to include more features. These include:
- A secure payment gateway/wallet.
- A new Lifestyle category (caterers, DJs, wedding planners, event specialists, etc.).
- Integrated e-commerce for beauty products.
- Formal accreditation pathways in collaboration with the Personal Care Service SETA.
The long-term goal is clear: To build a holistic ecosystem for beauty, fashion, and lifestyle entrepreneurs across the world. While Malakyt is a business, the founders see it as something much deeper. “Malakyt carries African history in its design. It is a celebration of culture, community, and entrepreneurship. We’re not just building a marketplace, we’re building an empowerment platform.”
