While many LGBTQI people continue to face discrimination and struggle to find work, in Zimbabwe some have turned to entrepreneurship and created thriving businesses that employ hundreds. The success of their businesses attest to their tenacity and brilliant work ethic.
In 2016 transwoman Alessandra Bree Chacha founded a skin care line, BALT Global Limited which employs over 100 people in Zimbabwe and South Africa and has penetrated the global market with sterling sales.
Bree is also a human rights advocate with a passion for issues affecting trans, gender diverse and intersex persons, an author and a philanthropist who founded the Edwick Foundation, which she named after her late mother.
Bustop TV recently caught up with Alessandra Bree (A.B) for an exclusive interview, which has been edited for clarity.
May you tell our readers who Alessandra Bree is?
A.B: My name is Alessandra Bree Chacha, or just Bree, and I am a businesswoman, philanthropist, solutions provider and innovative thinker. I am also a human rights advocate to some extent, mostly for trans, gender diverse, intersex persons and any marginalized community that includes women, orphans and children.
My work, both on the business side as well as my human rights initiatives and philanthropic work, is mostly centered around the experiences that I grew up in. I grew up as an orphan. My father passed away when I was around two years old and my mother then passed on when I was around nine. So, in my early childhood, I grew up with my mom, who was an inspirational woman. I am a transitioning woman and my mother always said that I was enough and that I would grow up to be that lady of value. Accepting myself really helped because my mother already knew who I was despite the stigma or the discrimination I faced.
When was BALT Global Limited established?
A.B: BALT Global is a company that was established in 2016 and officially registered in 2018.
What motivated the business idea?
A.B: When I was around 16, going through puberty and having acne scars and blemishes, I constantly looked on the market for products that could help to remove blemishes and that were also organic, safe, cruelty-free and that give back to the environment. I couldn’t find anything. BALT Global is a solutions provider, not cosmetics, not enhancement per se, but addresses issues we face when it comes to clear moisturized skin.
A few years later after quitting my job at a renowned technology firm in Harare I started BALT Global and our first product was BALT natural organic skincare. The name BALT means “Blessed And Loving It.” It’s a name I felt resonated with not only me, but anyone who chooses to put their trust in God.
If you look at me, my transition to full womanhood happened in a really organic way from getting tested before I started my transition and being told that I already had chromosomes and hormonal levels that were identical to that of an actual biological female. And that to me was like a sign that I was born to be a woman.
I am the founder and creator of this line, which we produce in factories in Msasa, Harare and in Cape Town. The solutions we provide are dermatologist-recommended and tested. As I envisioned when I was 16, it is a solution that provides value and works to tackle any skincare issues.
Did your childhood and upbringing have an influence on the career path you have taken?
Since I was young, I’ve always been a creator. I remember when I was, like, five years old and I would hear songs play and I didn’t like what was being produced and I started composing my own songs, or if I didn’t like my clothing I would try to tweak it. So I’ve always been born a creator, so to say. Whenever I saw problems or experienced problems, my instinct was always to say, ‘what is the solution?’. So, yeah, I guess that’s something innate and so I couldn’t run away from being an entrepreneur, from being a CEO, from being a shareholder.
Has the business expanded over the years?
BALT Global has three brands now: BALT natural organic skincare, Dream Body Wellness, and Unique Properties. Dream Body Wellness focuses on being healthy and optimum mental wise, physically. Dream Body Wellness also has a merchandise store based in New York that offers shipping worldwide.
Then we also have Unique Properties that focuses on construction, building equipment, building supplies, as well as actual property, valuations, and buying and selling.
BALT Global has made an impact not only in Zimbabwe but also outside the country where our efforts have been really appreciated and demand has been high in countries like South Africa, Mozambique, Cayman Islands, Mauritius, the Seychelles and around Europe in Switzerland, France, as well as Germany, where we are continuing to offer services that are being appreciated in those countries and distributorship is growing.
In Zimbabwe we have distributors in Harare, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, and Mutare. It’s been great as well, but yes, our demand has definitely been quite high outside Zimbabwe where our clientele really understands the organic solutions that we bring to the table. We are actually protecting the environment because BALT natural organic skincare does not use any harmful ingredients within its production and all our packaging is also biodegradable and environmentally friendly and recyclable.
What are some of your greatest achievements as an entrepreneur?
A.B: I am member of the Female Founder Collective, which is basically a worldwide movement of female founders of brands, companies and ladies who are shareholders and solutions providers. I was accepted as part of this Collective about a year or two ago, and it was really quite a milestone for a transitioning woman like myself to be considered in spaces where other powerful women are respected and acknowledged. My parents would be proud to see what I have achieved despite facing many challenges because of my gender identity.
I was also acknowledged by the UN head office on the UN sustainable development website, which is basically a website that is responsive to all sustainable development issues. I was featured on that website as a human rights advocate for Trans and gender diverse persons, as well as any marginalized community. It also showed that I am a business person with a thriving organic skin care company.
What does the success of your business mean to you?
A.B: The success of BALT Global really comes when I see our clients happy. When I see us as a team in and outside Zimbabwe providing solutions that make our clients feel heard and important.
How did your business survive during Covid-19? What are some of the challenges you faced?
A.B: I constantly travel for business to establish more networks and to grow our distributorship, so when Covid-19 first hit, the travel ban was a blow. It was hard to find out how the business was doing. We also had to do individual orders to clients who ordered online, and that harmed us in terms of shipping costs. This however became an opportunity in disguise when we changed our business model to increase the number of distributors.
Besides being an entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist, you also do advocacy work? How do balance all these commitments?
A.B: It’s who I am as a person. It comes naturally because at BALT Global we’ve got a corporate social responsibility arm. A percentage of all profits always goes towards assisting the less fortunate and human rights initiatives. That corporate social responsibility arm gives back to a foundation that I’m very passionate about and proud of called The Edwick Foundation, named after my late mother. She had a really great impact on me, so I felt like I definitely needed to let my mother’s legacy live on. I’ve been a part of marginalized communities, and I know how hard it is accepting yourself, so my philanthropic work is really just me saying, ‘nobody should ever be made to feel less enough, less appreciated, less valued., In October, when we were commemorating Breast Cancer Awareness Month, BALT Global launched a collection of skin repair lotion and skin repair body wash. All proceeds from that went towards assisting promoting and improving campaigns that basically support breast cancer awareness, detection, testing and treatment.
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