0 
0 By Amanda-Ellen Jojo
CRYSTAL’s Aura was founded in 2019 it was born out of a mother’s frustration and personal need for natural treatment of eczema and acne. It was founded by Chrystal Mushonga, who is the Managing Director and Cosmetic Formulator. Crystal’s Aura is a company that manufactures sustainable personal care products using natural and ethically sourced ingredients indigenous to Zimbabwe and across Africa.
They currently have skin care, hair care and body care products. After an intensive research, Mushonga discovered the rich biodiversity the African region, used in a lot of international cosmetic formulations and have been long treasured by African ancestors. These botanicals fall under non-timber forest products which constitute more than 35% of household incomes in Zimbabwe and beyond, these ecosystems are not well managed to the full potential of these producer communities.
Crystal’s Aura is situated in Belgravia, Harare. Crystal’s Aura prides itself in uniqueness because its products are all handmade, hand poured and formulations are prepared by the founder who is also the Cosmetic Formuator. Crystal’s Aura’s obligation is to lead in this new age, improve the local industry whilst positively impacting producer communities thus, the company is not only a manufacturer of retail personal care products, but it also contracts manufacture for other small brands.
The vision of the establishment is to grow to be one of the leading contract manufacturers with a state of the art lab for study and sustainable extraction of cosmetic ingredients in Africa, servicing an international client base. In the near future, Mushonga is set to create a platform for supply chain mapping and a marketplace with features that merge to offer the most powerful tools for transparency and traceability thereby reducing illicit trade, conserving these precious forests and broader socio-economic development.
To date, Crystal’s Aura has sold over 5000 bars of Goat Milk soap, onboarded their first angel investor in August 2020, records sales ranging from 50 to 350 units per month and they have a network of agents across the country selling their products.
