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The factory may still use a makeshift pump made from a washing-machine motor, but Dominate has come a long way from the back room of a Ponsonby barber shop.
Shane Young was still developing the ultimate male hair product when he ran into Anthony Gadson at a
friend's gathering eight years ago.
Late at night in his kitchen, Young would mix combinations of wax, and later test them on his discerning Ponsonby clients. No product on the market had quite the right hold and texture that Young and the customers were seeking.
Gadson, meanwhile, was aware there was a gap in the market for an alternative to the American men's hair styling product Dax Wax, as he was working for Progressive Enterprises and had trouble sourcing product for that particular shelf.
The pair were soon toiling late into the night in the back room of Young's barber shop, creating the Dominate product.
Their sideline business was originally funded on an extended credit card limit, and lack of capital meant buying a $25,000 machine to pump hot wax into containers seemed out of the question.
That was until a friend with an engineering background whipped up a piece of equipment from a second-hand washing machine pump for $200 and it's still doing the job.
Young's background in hair care and Gadson's in groceries proved a dynamic partnership and by 2000 they had developed a range of strong hold, salon quality hair wax pitched at supermarket prices.
The back room of the barber shop came alive every night as they cooked batches to meet demand.
On Friday nights the pair would ply their mates with pizza and beer to help get all the latest batches labelled and packed up for delivery to supermarkets.
It wasn't just Young's clients and mates who lapped up the Dominate product: the wider market latched on to it too and it is now the number one selling hair-styling product in New Zealand.
Though it's been six years since he moved out of the barber shop to work on Dominate full-time, Young still bumps into former clients who are ardent supporters of the product.
Gadson says New Zealand is the perfect market to test new products it is open to new ideas and willing to give feedback.
Yes, there is a turn towards buying New Zealand made and designed products, but Dominate does not proclaim its Kiwi roots on the packaging it sits on the same shelf as similar products, and uses plain, but effective colour schemes.
Gadson says Dominate gained popularity so quickly because it is a better quality product than its competitors.
The company holds regular focus groups to ensure it is meeting customers' demands and expectations, but Gadson says the most effective marketing tool has been the website dominatehair.co.nz.
Website feedback prompted the company to launch wax to suit different hair types or to create different styles; it recently launched products with a toffee flavour, and is expecting its gift sets to do well this year.
"We realised people find it really hard to buy for guys, and this is something useful, and a brand they trust," Gadson says.
Young recently saw a gap in the market for a shaving product that wouldn't give him a bad shaving rash, as many existing brands did.
Speaking to friends and customers, he found he was not alone.
The company managed to source natural New Zealand ingredients such as flax extract, avoided constituents such as sulphates and parabens, and developed a product called Primal Earth shaving gel.
The new brand was launched this year and appeals to a slightly older, more nature-conscious market, a sector that is rapidly growing in target export countries.
"We developed Primal Earth on the basis that we'd rather know what we're putting on our skin, rather than be confused by a raft of chemical ingredients no one really knows the long-term impact of," says Young.
Today, both Primal Earth Shave and Dominate Hairstyling are manufactured on site at their factory in Mangere. Dominate now employs 27 staff and sells to 3200 retail outlets across 24 retail chains in New Zealand, Australia and Britain.
The company has recently visited Asia, America and wider Europe and expects to launch both lines in America in the near future.
The company grew 45 per cent with the launch of the brand last year and expects new lines to boost growth by 20 per cent this year.
Their profile is also growing after Gadson's win at the 2008 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Next week he will be presented with his prize as winner of the Young Entrepreneur Category and will stand next to Michael Hill, whose book inspired him to become an entrepreneur in the first place.
Gadson says the award's application process gave him an opportunity to sit back and reflect on what the business has achieved over the past eight years.
"We're on track," he says.
