By Kevin Tabilo: Country Manager for KAO South Africa

I started in this industry in 2014 and I immediately fell in love with it. From when I learned about a Colour Wheel to doing my first in salon treatment - shame that model had a proper bath at the salon that day, I knew that it was my calling and I knew that it would be very difficult for me to go back to anything else after dealing with hair stylists every day. Yes, my role has changed now but I will always be a shampoo salesman at heart, and I am deeply passionate about uplifting and growing this amazing industry of ours. It’s what gets me up in the morning and fuels me and my team.
So with that being said, I can also remember that my first visit to Salon International was way back in 2014 actually (below) and I just remember thinking, “wow, this is so cool, a trade show for stylists and industry suppliers.” I was instantly hooked and even tried to convince my bosses at the time to join and be part of it.

Fast forward to 2019, and I was not only attending but also working for a company that was actually exhibiting and I found it so much fun over those two days. We also had an awards evening that night, that turned into mainly us (the people that worked there) partying but we had a lot of fun. I even remember making a funny video of me giving away the wrong type of bags because people were there for these specific bags and I completely disappointed the mob of a crowd. This was pre-Covid and attendance was still good for the show and we did quite well as a company back then.
Of course, then COVID hit and let’s not even get started on that as I am sure we are all sick of hearing the Post-Covid story. Our industry has taken a huge knock since COVID and not just our industry, but the whole global economy.
We all know that inflation has been through the roof, fuel prices have spiraled upwards, and the cost of living has increased by double digits in some cases. Until recently, even the Rand was severely weakened by the Global situation. This has put all of us as suppliers under pressure with managing our costs and also making sure our price increases are manageable each year. We have unfortunately also seen a decline in people joining our industry (globally) and Gen-Z’s just don’t see the value in working in enterprises where they have to work with their hands. I think they would all be rather working remotely from a beach in Bali (even me, by the way!) but there is still a huge demand for people with trades and creative people are never going to be replaced by AI. Ask anyone who wants to move overseas how much easier it is to have a trade as opposed to a normal degree. I also don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t trust a robot to do my hair, not for a long time… if ever! We have found ways to make AI work for us and use technology to make our employees’ as well as our clients’ lives easier and for that I am forever grateful. I have been lucky enough to be the generation (Millennial) that has lived gone through the pre-tech bubble and then gradually seen the advancement of technology over the last 30 years or so. So why am I telling you all of this and why should you care?
Well, I was invited by Yolanda Knott who is the CEO of Salon International in South Africa to attend Pro Beauty last year September. I took some team members with me, and yes, I was excited again. I was excited to see that hairdressers were still attending the event and I immediately had the idea that if I could, I would definitely want to disrupt the suppliers that have been there year after year.
After speaking to some other MDs of haircare companies and having some great discussions with Sandile and Yolanda, I decided that we were going to join this year. The aim? To uplift the industry and get young stylists excited about what is happening from us as suppliers and also to continue to support our ongoing partnerships with Intercoiffure and more specifically Foundation Guillame (the young and upcoming student) - the future of our industry.
It would be a great opportunity for us to also do some great show deals and of course newer brands in our portfolio like Varis, our premium hot tool and brush range. The main aim will also be to have a Colour pod where we can highlight some of our new Colour trends with Topchic, Colorance, Elumen and our Lightening services. Goldwell is world renowned for its great Colour and we wanted to make sure that it gets the attention it deserves on what we believe will be the biggest stage this year.
We are even more excited that our first year doing it will also be at a brand-new venue and I promise you that you are going to love the Kyalami Convention Centre. Being a massive petrol head, I have been to the car shows here often and they never disappoint. We will have a total of 3 stands this year including a Goldwell Colour Pod, a KAO Brands stand, and a Varis styling station where you will be able to try and play with our new tools and brushes. We also have confirmed guest artists like Bernadine Bennie and Hilke Minnie, and of course our full complement of Educators.

We would love to see you there this year and, as the excitement mounts and the buildup happens, we are just beyond ecstatic to be representing our beloved brands and to hopefully see you all there. We want to put our money where our mouth is, and we have committed ourselves to building an incredible community of hair artists. We believe this is the first step of many to making that happen.
Come and say hi, have a coffee with us and let’s make this an incredible two days for our industry.
Regards
Kevin Tabilo
Please visit the Kao Salon Division and Kao Group websites for more information: www.kaosalondivision.com, www.kao.com or email Anke.Sander-Duncan@kao.com or visit.

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