Armed with a desire to improve his wellbeing and a passion to be a social entrepreneur, Franck Banza set about making Super Bio Boost a success.
And he’s certainly enjoyed a healthy start to life as a businessman with Hoffi Powder receiving 100 per cent five-star reviews on Amazon, and a second product in the pipeline.
Described as a plant-based wellness superfood drawn from age-old African remedies to boost your immune system, the powder is 100 per cent organic and suitable for vegans.
It’s a product that’s been long in the making as Franck watched his father’s health improve after being steered towards a surplus of locally cultivated natural remedies.
Franck explained: “In 2015 I travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to visit my father, who was extremely ill.
After being introduced to the natural remedies, my father responded favourably to the treatment options, which made me want to explore this path.”
His belief in the natural remedies was only strengthened when he too fell ill.
He added: “I was diagnosed with liver problems a few years ago, but after changing my eating habits and introducing the ingredients featured in our products into my diet, the complications decreased, and my overall health has improved.”
While Franck was working on the manufacturing of the product with Swansea University and Food Centre Wales, he was also keen to enlist the help of Superfast Business Wales to maximise business potential.
A one-to-one with adviser Catrin Williams, who produced an in-depth report, gave Franck direction in terms of improving his existing website and fine-tuning his digital marketing.
One such idea was to run a competition on social media, which involved signing up and sharing the post, whilst another centred around collating details of those who visited the website and registered an interest in the product.
Franck said:
“The meeting with Catrin really helped focus my mind on how to increase interest in the product. I feel as an entrepreneur that having someone to relate to about the challenges of setting up a brand is crucial.
“The idea of building a list of people who were at least curious about Hoffi Powder was fantastic and now I have that information I can tailor my email marketing.
''We have around 100 people on our mailing list now and we are able to use that information going forward to make sure the product has as big an impact as possible.”
Catrin’s report also looked at Super Bio Boost’s website, which focused on improving the speed and efficiency as well as boosting the search engine optimisation (SEO) to make it more visible in the likes of Google.
Franck continued: “Catrin’s findings suggested that the speed of the website could – and needed to be – improved, so we did that by simplifying certain pages and sorting out the file sizes of pictures.
“There also needed to be some work done on the SEO side of things, and this has been improved by increasing the frequency of blog posts on the site.
''When I launched the website, I had five blogs to upload straight away, but it became apparent to me after speaking with Catrin that it needed to be a regular thing.
''I now have a target in mind to try and post fresh content at least once a month because it not only improves SEO but helps build trust with the brand.
“The positive thing is that when a blog post is uploaded it can be sent to my mailing list, so more people can see it.
“There is also a plan to start a podcast, which will only help confidence in the brand as we grow.”
Franck intends to lean on Catrin and Superfast Business Wales later down the line as he looks to spread the word on Super Bio Boost.
He said: “She’s been great and has really pushed me to investigate trying different things.
“One such aspect will be the most effective way of advertising the brand. I’ve tried Amazon and Google Ads, but there is so much more to explore.
“I’ve been pondering the use of Facebook Ads, or whether an increase in social media engagement through Instagram would have more of an impact.
“I’ve also taken a look into TikTok as all businesses are different and it’s about trying to find the target audience.”
Whilst Franck wants to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone who buys Hoffi Powder, he’s committed to giving 50 per cent of profits to charitable cause, The Centre for African Entrepreneurship (CAE), of which he is the founder and chief executive officer.
He explained: “The CAE aims to inspire and support ethnically diverse communities to succeed through enterprise.
“Our products are ethically sourced, globally cultivated and locally created, producing jobs and wealth in poor communities.
“We work directly with communities in Uganda and DR Congo to empower smallholders and farmers to access a transparent route to market that offers higher prices for their goods.”
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