What started with a love of dogs and a search for better products has grown into a South African small business with ambitions to become a distinctive dog wellness and lifestyle brand.
For Badoodoo, the journey has demonstrated that having a good business idea is only the beginning. Turning that idea into a recognised and trusted brand has required patience, adaptability and a willingness to learn from setbacks along the way.
The mother and daughter business was born from their shared passion for dogs and a desire to create products they believed were missing from the market.
But bringing those products to customers proved considerably more complicated than developing the initial idea.
“Learning that having a great idea is the easy part,” Margie La Grange, one of Badoodoo’s founders, said.
La Grange began the business from just an idea between her and her daughter, Paula Karnasopoulos.
“It’s one thing to have an idea for a product and quite another to actually bring it to life. Finding the right people to work with, getting the right accreditations, expert support and endorsements, and then figuring out manufacturing, pricing, retail and marketing all takes time,” she said.
For the business, establishing a recognisable brand has taken around five years.
La Grange said there was an important distinction between operating a business and building a brand that customers recognise and trust.
“You can feel like you’re building something from day one, but there’s a big difference between having a business and becoming an established brand that people recognise and trust,” she said.
The experience reinforced the importance of being patient while remaining willing to change direction when necessary.
“The biggest lessons have been patience and adaptability. Listen, learn quickly, surround yourself with the right people and don’t be afraid to change something that isn’t working,” La Grange said.
The reality of building an SME
Like many small businesses, Badoodoo has had to navigate periods of uncertainty.
La Grange said there had been times when the business had no sales, products had not performed as expected and the founders questioned whether their investment of time, energy and money would ultimately pay off.
“And yes, I’ve questioned whether it would succeed many times,” she said.
“There have been times when you wonder whether all the time, energy and money you’re putting into something will ever pay off,” La Grange said.
She said these challenges were part of the reality of running a small business.
However, maintaining belief in the underlying idea helped the business continue through difficult periods.
“When you genuinely believe in what you’re creating, you keep going, and gradually you start to see all those small steps adding up to something much bigger,” she said.
Building a community around the brand
Badoodoo has also taken an approach that extends beyond simply developing and selling dog products.
The business has built a community around its brand through events and its Sniffari walks, bringing dogs and their owners together outside the traditional retail environment.
La Grange said creating that community was important because dogs and their owners are inherently social.
“We never wanted Badoodoo to just be a range of products on a shelf. Dogs are incredibly social, and so are dog people,” she said.
The events have become an important part of the brand, allowing the business to engage directly with its customers and create experiences around its products and philosophy.
“Some of my favourite Badoodoo moments have actually happened outside the shop, surrounded by dogs and their humans,” La Grange said.
Partnerships with purpose
Collaborations have also become an important part of Badoodoo’s growth strategy, although La Grange said the business was selective about who it partnered with.
Rather than collaborating simply to increase exposure, Badoodoo looks for partnerships where there is an authentic connection between the brands.
One recent example was the Platō Pup Walk with African Tails, which brought together 100 dogs and their owners while raising R17,500 for the organisation.
“Our recent Platō Pup Walk with African Tails was a really special one. We raised R17,500 for the organisation while bringing 100 dogs and their owners together for a really fun morning,” she said.
“That combination of community, dogs and giving back is very much what we want Badoodoo to be,” La Grange said.
The approach also demonstrates how an SME can use partnerships to build brand awareness while creating a broader social impact.
Customers shaping the business
Direct interaction with customers has also played an important role in Badoodoo’s development.
Rather than relying solely on sales data, the founders have used conversations with customers and their dogs to understand what products people actually want.
“Dogs are probably our best product testers. You learn very quickly what people actually want when you’re standing talking to them rather than looking at sales figures,” La Grange said.
Those conversations have highlighted how discerning South African dog owners have become, with customers increasingly interested in what they give their pets while also looking for products that fit into their own lifestyles and homes.
Growing the Badoodoo footprint
Looking ahead, Badoodoo wants to establish itself as a distinctive South African dog wellness and lifestyle brand while retaining the independence and personality that have helped define the business.
One of the company’s ambitions is to establish a stronger physical presence in Cape Town, which La Grange believes is a natural fit for the brand and the lifestyle surrounding it.
“I’d particularly love to establish a real Badoodoo footprint in Cape Town. It feels like such a natural fit for the brand and the lifestyle around it,” she said.
The company also has new products in development and plans to expand its walks, collaborations and events into other parts of the country.
For Badoodoo, growth is therefore not simply about increasing the number of products it sells.
“Ultimately, the vision has always been about celebrating the life we share with our dogs, and all the ways they make our own lives richer,” she said.
For the founders, the journey from an idea to an established SME has been shaped by the realities familiar to many entrepreneurs.
The idea may provide the starting point, but building a sustainable brand requires persistence, learning from customers, adapting when things do not work and surrounding the business with the right people.
ashley.lechman@nationalmg.co.za