From Farm to Face: How Stella Ciolli Built SKOON into South Africa’s Clean Beauty Leader
From Farm to Face: How Stella Ciolli Built SKOON into South Africa’s Clean Beauty Leader. Stella Ciolli spent years working as a civil engineer before a newspaper snippet about toxic cosmetic ingredients prompted a life-changing shift. Inspired, she began blending rosehip oil in her kitchen, eventually founding SKOON, the Afrikaans word for “clean”, in 2015 on a farm outside Stellenbosch. Her background in science and structure laid the foundation for a brand built on reliability, quality, and ethics.
Identifying the Clean Beauty Gap
A pivotal moment came when Ciolli realized the cosmetic industry was saturated with products containing hundreds of questionable chemicals. She saw an opening: a brand that could combine the purity of African botanicals with validated scientific formulas. This insight became SKOON’s DNA, clean, sustainably sourced, science-backed skincare.
Milestone One: Crafting Early Success
SKOON launched its first products, cleansers, moisturizers, and a rosehip concentrate, in a small on‑farm lab. Despite limited capital, a family loan helped Stella build her first production facility. Recognition soon followed when her anti‑aging serum received a Personal Care Editor’s Choice Award.
Lesson: Start small but smart. Validate your ideas before scaling and leverage resources like family and awards to build credibility.
Scaling with Integrity and Intent
By expanding into larger manufacturing facilities, SKOON maintained consistent quality while scaling product lines to include exfoliants, serums, masks, suncare, and travel kits. The brand began supporting 1% for the Planet, used PETA‑approved ingredients, opposed animal testing, and worked with local suppliers.
Lesson: When your values match your operations, your brand authenticity resonates with customers and retailers.
Breaking Through with Retail and Media Presence
SKOON’s clean positioning helped it become one of the fastest-growing skincare lines on Faithful to Nature and a top five seller on their platform. The brand also earned media attention, from GQ profiling its clean beauty ethos to News24 highlighting the scientific and natural balance of its formulas. Shelf space in retailers like Wellness Warehouse followed.
Lesson: Align your purpose with platforms that attract your ideal customers and let quality and story drive visibility.
Product Innovation That Reinforces Trust
With hero offerings like the Wow Wow Wonder +C serum, Retinin resurfacing cream, and SK!NSIDE OUT Beauty Smoothie, SKOON delivered results across skin types. The brand successfully merged clean ingredients with clinical effectiveness, making ethical beauty practical.
Lesson: A niche brand succeeds when it addresses real needs with thoughtful, well researched products.
Leadership That Inspires Growth
Stella always credited her pivot from engineering as part of the brand story: late career development, curiosity, and resilience. Leadership transitioned smoothly, with Thandi Mbulaheni stepping in as CEO in 2021. Thandi brought deep brand-building experience and crafted a vision to “leapfrog” SKOON onto the world stage.
Lesson: As your brand scales, appoint leaders who can maintain authenticity while expanding reach.
Operational Expansion and Community Focus
SKOON outgrew its initial laboratory and moved into a two‑storey factory with a view of Stellenbosch, empowered by a team of ten staff. With 20 products and growing, the brand continues its unwavering commitment to sourcing local botanicals such as rosehip, marula, and African flower extracts.
Lesson: When production scales, reinforce infrastructure, locally sourced and mission-aligned operations maintain brand trust.
Actionable Lessons for Aspiring Brands
| Insight | Practical Application |
|---|---|
| Trust your own chemistry | Look to unique personal passions to define your niche |
| Validate before scaling | Use pilot phases to prove production and market demand |
| Keep ethics front and centre | Values-driven operations attract loyal customers |
| Drive visibility through purpose | Effective storytelling earns shelf space |
| Hire with foresight | Evolve leadership as brand complexity grows |
| Build local infrastructure | Prioritize quality and community by producing close to root |
Final Reflection
SKOON’s journey, from civil engineer’s experiment to award-winning clean beauty icon, demonstrates that thoughtful, value-led entrepreneurship can succeed at scale. When science and nature reinforce each other, and purpose builds every decision, growth isn’t just possible, it’s powerful.
