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Jofie Yordan · · 5 min readIndonesian beauty firm turns $40k investment into profitable business in two years
Around a decade ago, best friends Cindy Angelina and Kezia Trihatmanto studied together at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.
The two had known each other since childhood, and their friendship has sparked a revolutionary idea for the beauty industry in their home country of Indonesia.
Esqa co-founders Kezia Trihatmanto (left) and Cindy Angelina / Photo credit: Esqa
In 2014, when Angelina and Trihatmanto returned to the country, the duo had difficulty finding cosmetic products that met their beauty standards.
When they were in the US, the trend of vegan cosmetics was taking off. But the cosmetics landscape in Indonesia at that time was still dominated by older, established players like Viva or Pixy. That was the impetus for the pair to start beauty brand Esqa.
“At that time, we still often pre-ordered beauty products from the US, which could take up to a month [to arrive],” Angelina tells Tech in Asia. She’s the CEO of the company, while Trihatmanto serves as chief product officer.
Esqa, which means “pure beauty” from the Celtic word “Eska,” is focused on providing vegan beauty products.
In 2015, Angelina and Trihatmanto each invested US$20,000 to develop the company’s first product. A year later, the firm officially launched with two lip products and became the first vegan cosmetics brand in the country.
Esqa co-founders Kezia Trihatmanto (left) and Cindy Angelina / Photo credit: Esqa
The Esqa team consisted of only three people then, including Angelina and Trihatmanto. The co-founders personally handled everything for the launch, including responding to consumer inquiries.
“We didn’t expect the demand for modern beauty products to be so great. When we launched, we sold thousands of products in the first month,” says Angelina.
The company now has 70 employees, with its headquarters located in Jakarta.
Profitability since year two
Esqa partners with manufacturers from South Korea, Indonesia, and China – all of which have factories in Indonesia – for its products.
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Cindy Angelina and Kezia Trihatmanto founded vegan cosmetics brand Esqa, which now has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
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