A KINCARDINE businesswoman is celebrating International Women’s Day as she looks forward to the fourth anniversary of her soap-making venture. 

Lisa McWatt, who worked in the police as a civilian member of staff, started SuperflySoap in 2018 after falling in love with the idea of creating vegan, plastic-free soaps – inspired by her favourite foods!

“I was still working when I first started and then was able to get away from my old job,” she explained. 

“It will be three years in September that I started this full-time. 

“I had the opportunity to go to Croatia and teach soap-making and couldn’t turn it down. 

“I started at a time when people were getting conscious about plastics. 

“I started with soaps and lip balms but now I am focusing on skincare too – facial creams, hair oil, things like that.”

During the pandemic, Lisa found herself surrounded by new brands following in her footsteps, and knew it was time to expand her business. 

She said: “A lot of people started making soap during COVID so I always have to be thinking one step ahead. 

“I liked using handmade soaps and decided that was what I wanted to do. I went to a course in Huddersfield and then started making my own formulation. 

“I do well on direct sales and have had 23,000 sales on Etsy. 

“I sell to shops as well but had to scale that back during the pandemic.”

“Shops have come to me on social media asking to stock my products, and then a lot of people seem to buy things in shops then come to me directly for the full range.”

Lisa runs her business by herself – despite the high demand for her products. 

“I am not very good at delegating!” she laughed.

“I do find it hard to take holidays as there is nobody there doing the orders and had thought about doing one of the Government schemes which would allow me to teach a young person.”

Recently, she was one of the early Plastic-Free Champions for the Plastic-Free Dunfermline group for her focus on creating eco-friendly products. 
This week, she discovered that three of her products had received an award. 
The Coconut Conditioner Bar, Balance Cleanser and Mango Hand and Body Soap has been awarded Editors Choice by the Beauty Shortlist Awards 2022.

International Women’s Day takes place on Tuesday.