Surviving breast cancer has inspired Sthabile Amanda Nxumalo of Hammarsdale in KwaZulu-Natal to re-imagine her nail salon business to reach more customers.
Nxumalo, 26, is the owner of NailsbyStha, a business that she started in 2016 while studying towards a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus.
She decided to open a nail salon at the end of the school calendar in 2016 because she wanted to generate an income. “I wanted to do something that I am passionate about while I was on a break from my studies,” Nxumalo said.
The following year, when she was back on campus, she realised that she could make a lot of money by targeting students who wanted their nails to be maintained and decorated.
In 2020, she decided to discontinue her studies and focus on growing the business. At the time, the business had already employed four people.
“During the lockdown, I had to tell my parents that I dropped out of school because I want to focus on what I love doing and they were supportive of my decision,” she added.
Because beauty salons were not allowed to operate during the hard lockdown, Nxumalo decided to teach people how to do their own nails.
In 2023, Nxumalo was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to shut down operations and focus on her healing and recovery.
She went through chemotherapy and radiation surgery, but the journey took a toll on her mental health and financial well-being because she also had a newborn baby.
She felt she could not fully parent her baby due to the disease. “One of my breasts had to be removed, but I had a positive mindset because I wanted to beat cancer,” she said.
After completing her treatment and declared cancer-free, Nxumalo decided not to open her nail salon but to re-brand her business.
NailsbyStha now started selling press-on nails, which come in a kit that includes cuticle oil, cuticle-pusher, nail file, alcohol pads, sticky tabs, glue, and glue remover.
Nxumalo said this is still a foreign concept to many South Africans but she chooses to focus on providing these services because it has a market and people will soon warm up to the idea.
She educates her clients on how to install the nails, according to their specifications and the time they intend to wear them.
Nxumalo uses a courier company to distribute her products and the delivery takes five to seven days to reach her customers. – This article was first published in GCIS’s Vuk’uzenzele
Cancer survivor reinvents her nail business
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Image: Vukuzenzele
Surviving breast cancer has inspired Sthabile Amanda Nxumalo of Hammarsdale in KwaZulu-Natal to re-imagine her nail salon business to reach more customers.
Nxumalo, 26, is the owner of NailsbyStha, a business that she started in 2016 while studying towards a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus.
She decided to open a nail salon at the end of the school calendar in 2016 because she wanted to generate an income. “I wanted to do something that I am passionate about while I was on a break from my studies,” Nxumalo said.
The following year, when she was back on campus, she realised that she could make a lot of money by targeting students who wanted their nails to be maintained and decorated.
In 2020, she decided to discontinue her studies and focus on growing the business. At the time, the business had already employed four people.
“During the lockdown, I had to tell my parents that I dropped out of school because I want to focus on what I love doing and they were supportive of my decision,” she added.
Because beauty salons were not allowed to operate during the hard lockdown, Nxumalo decided to teach people how to do their own nails.
In 2023, Nxumalo was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to shut down operations and focus on her healing and recovery.
She went through chemotherapy and radiation surgery, but the journey took a toll on her mental health and financial well-being because she also had a newborn baby.
She felt she could not fully parent her baby due to the disease. “One of my breasts had to be removed, but I had a positive mindset because I wanted to beat cancer,” she said.
After completing her treatment and declared cancer-free, Nxumalo decided not to open her nail salon but to re-brand her business.
NailsbyStha now started selling press-on nails, which come in a kit that includes cuticle oil, cuticle-pusher, nail file, alcohol pads, sticky tabs, glue, and glue remover.
Nxumalo said this is still a foreign concept to many South Africans but she chooses to focus on providing these services because it has a market and people will soon warm up to the idea.
She educates her clients on how to install the nails, according to their specifications and the time they intend to wear them.
Nxumalo uses a courier company to distribute her products and the delivery takes five to seven days to reach her customers. – This article was first published in GCIS’s Vuk’uzenzele
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