Tia boxes up own beauty business

A female entrepreneur, who has launched her own beauty products subscription service, says more women should take the 'leap of faith' and turn their passion into a specialist business.
Tia Roqaa, centre.Tia Roqaa, centre.
Tia Roqaa, centre.

Tia Roqaa launched Roccabox two months ago after being made redundant in January and the business has already hit turnover of £10,000.

Roccabox puts together boxes of beauty products curated by bloggers and influencers and ships them off to customers at a subscription fee of £10 a month.

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Ms Roqaa told The Yorkshire Post that women should look to use their specialist knowledge and set up their own businesses.

“There’s always a gap in the market,” she said. “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can always look at something and think why isn’t it done in a particular way. The biggest thing is just taking that leap of faith and actually doing it.”

The 27-year-old says she was “pushed” into setting up her business after being made redundant from her job in public relations.

However, she added that there’s no reason why would-be entrepreneurs can’t set up a business on the side and grow it slowly.

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The Leeds entrepreneur has always harboured ambitions of setting up her own business.

“I’ve always had that urge to want to try and build something of my own,” she said. “My parents have always had their own businesses as well so I wanted to follow their lead.”

She noticed that the beauty industry was growing rapidly and that there was a gap in the market with consumers wanting to try new products. Roccabox delivers a box of five sample-sized beauty products to the customer for £10 a month. While the business is seeing success, Ms Roqaa says she has shipped around 1,000 units, the entrepreneur is looking to further expand her business.

She said: “At the moment it’s early days into the business but I do have plans to expand and develop. Eventually, I’d like to have an online store where people can go to purchase the product directly that they’ve tried in a Roccabox.”

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Ms Roqaa harbours ambitions of turning Roccabox into a place that also delivers expert advice and tutorials on how to apply beauty products.

She added: “I want to grow the business to be a household name and for it to be a one-stop shop for all of your beauty needs.”

Ms Roqaa is currently running the business on her own but in light of the rapid growth in the first two months she has set her sights on establishing an office and taking on staff.

She said: “The way the business is growing I’m going to have to take on staff. It’s really difficult for me to juggle so many things.

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“Probably in September I’ll be looking to take on an office and staff in sales and marketing.”

The business is working with social enterprise Paperworks in Seacroft to fulfil its orders.

Paperworks provides work preparation training and support to adults with learning, physical and mental health related disabilities. The feedback Ms Roqaa has received from Paperworks has been positive. “They love working with Roccabox,” she said. “They love all the different colours, different textures of everything in the box. It’s a really fun project for them.”

It was a conscious decision to team up with Paperworks.

“I’d much rather give my money to a social enterprise,” says Ms Roqaa.

Ms Roqaa says that her business caters for busy women who haven’t got the time to go around shops to try different beauty products.

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