Podcast 185: The Secrets of a Self-Made Beauty Entrepreneur

In this episode, you’ll hear the amazing story of a Formula Botanica graduate who knew what she wanted to do, but didn’t quite know how to get there. We hear how she went from coffee shop owner to mother to homemaker to teacher to contract manufacturer in less than 10 years and built an empire by turning problems into solutions and obstacles into opportunities.

Most countries around the world allow you to manufacture your own skin care brand at home, but this is not the case in Indonesia. So what would you do if you were brewing in a small research lab and the authorities suddenly showed up, ordered you to destroy all your ingredients and equipment, and then shut you down?

Lorraine talks to Dewi Kauw, graduate and founder of Formula Botanica Skin Dewi, an award-winning skincare and body care brand based in Indonesia that offers products made from natural and organic ingredients. What began as a mother’s quest to relieve her baby’s skin problems has grown into a formulation and manufacturing empire with a mission to educate lifestyle and wellness while helping her audience and clients take care of a myriad of skin problems.

Dewi explains the trials and tribulations of not only launching an organic plant-based skincare line in Indonesia, but also the challenges she faced on the production front. She dared to dream of building her own production unit and with determination and creativity she made it a reality. Tune in for an enlightening interview full of juicy business facts and sage advice on how passion and persistence can move mountains of beauty.

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In this episode with Dewi Kauw, you will hear:

• After graduating from university in Singapore and spending a few years in the US, Dewi returned to Indonesia knowing she wanted to run her own business, but she didn’t know exactly what. Once she found her ‘Why’, everything started to fall into place.
• How synchronicity and a desire to find natural herbal solutions for her daughter’s eczema led her to Germany to research natural products and then search the internet for a school to teach her what she needed to know. when she stumbled upon the public Formula Botanica Facebook Group and signed up as a student.
• How her education in skincare taught her so much more than just makeup, to include how lifestyle, diet, physical and mental health can affect the skin. Transferring this valuable knowledge became her mission – to give back to those who needed it most, empowering and educating people.
• How increased demand, spurred by Covid and a lack of GMP certified manufacturers in Indonesia, led Dewi to look into building her own facility in order to scale up.
• In 2023, after a series of obstacles and challenges, Dewi overcame them all and opened her GMP-certified contract manufacturing facility – the first of its kind in Indonesia to focus on natural and organic products.
• About her continued desire to grow her business, particularly developing not only a local Indonesian brand, but also a premium one that could be sold globally and compete on the global stage. She firmly believes that the Eurocentric concept of beauty is unrealistic and outdated.

Packed essentials include:

• Entrepreneurship takes many forms even in the skincare industry. Being curious, learning and growing can take you places you might not have imagined. The opportunities are many.
• To be a successful entrepreneur you must have meaning and a higher purpose. There must be a mission behind your brand. For Dewi it was watching people with skin problems transform, seeing them burst out with confidence. Changing lives is what drives her.
• Don’t be discouraged by those who are set in their ways or refuse to change with the times. Be unique in your determination. Know what you want to create and create. Be consistent. Be authentic. Everything else is just a distraction.
• Find out the “Why”. Why do you want to do what you intend to do? Be very clear about this. Mark it down. In big letters. On a huge sheet of paper. You can always come back to your “Why” when you feel defeated or want to give up.
• Starting a business does not require a lot of money. With $1500 Dewi found the knowledge she needed to start building her dream. Jump and the net will appear.
• Perceptions and attitudes about global beauty are changing. There are several manufacturers, beauty brands and beauty entrepreneurs who are trying to change the entrenched Eurocentric perception of the beauty industry.

Meet our guest – Dewi Kauw, founder of Skin Dewi

Introducing Dewi Kauw, Formula Botanica graduate and founder of award-winning beauty brand Skin Dewi. Skin Dewi products are made from natural and organic ingredients designed to be high performance, yet gentle and safe to deliver results even for those customers with sensitive skin. In addition to operating a successful and sought-after skincare brand, in 2023 Dewi opened her own 1,000+ m2 manufacturing facility, making hers the first manufacturing facility in Indonesia to focus on natural and organic formulations. Its facilities have an in-house QC, R&D and Microbiology Laboratory. Its one-stop shop has the capacity to handle 50-80 other brands.

You can find more information about Dewi Kauw, the Skin Dewi product line and details of the manufacturing contract here:

Website: skindewi.com
LinkedIn: Skin Dewi
Tik Tok: @skindewi
Corporate Instagram: @skindewi
Personal Instagram (questions about making contracts): @dewikaw

If you want to learn more about some of the topics we’ve covered, check back in the podcast archives. Go and listen:

Episode 89 – Interview with beauty pioneer Sarah Brown of Pai Skincare, who also has her own manufacturing facility. This is one of the most popular episodes of Formula Botanica to date. Do not miss.

Episode 91 – Interview with Nopalera’s Sandra Velasquez, who, like Dewi, agrees that the cosmetics industry is based on an archaic Eurocentric view of beauty and is pushing to change that perception globally.

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Formula Botanica Green Beauty Conversations podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please share, subscribe and review this episode at iTunes, Spotify the Youtube so that more people can enjoy the show. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Lorraine Dallmeier is a biologist, certified environmentalist, and CEO of Formula Botanica, the award-winning online organic cosmetics school. Read more about Lorraine and the Formula Botanica team.