People, Roles and Capability Plan

Your Person and Their Unmet Need
You identified that Nomsa needs access to an affordable, natural skincare product gentle on her sensitive skin because many natural options are expensive or difficult to find while cheaper commercial products contain irritating ingredients, though you acknowledged this remains a hypothesis requiring validation through customer interviews.
Your People Ecosystem Map
Nomsa: Inner layer, decides what skincare products to purchase and use, needs products that are safe, affordable, effective and worth trying.
Nomsa's family: Inner layer, influences decisions through recommendations and social proof, unmet need not specified.
Friends and social circle: Inner layer, influences decisions through recommendations and reviews, unmet need not specified.
Beauty therapists and skincare professionals: Middle layer, prescribes and recommends products, need to be convinced the product is safe and effective.
Dermatologists: Middle layer, prescribes and influences customer choices, not yet spoken to.
Skincare retailers and beauty stores: Middle layer, chooses whether to stock it and controls market access, need confidence in product safety and market demand.
Natural skincare producers: Middle layer, implements through product formulation and production, not yet spoken to.
Cosmetic chemists and formulators: Middle layer, implements through product development, not yet spoken to.
Packaging and manufacturing suppliers: Middle layer, implements through production support, not yet spoken to.
Farmers and livestock owners: Outer layer, provides raw materials and inputs, may benefit from the business but unmet needs not detailed.
Retailers and distributors: Outer layer, implement market distribution, not yet spoken to.
Regulatory and compliance authorities: Outer layer, approves whether the product can be sold legally, can block the entire project if safety and labelling requirements are not met.
Environmental organisations: Outer layer, may benefit from the business model, not yet spoken to.
Funders and investors: Outer layer, approve and control capital, not yet spoken to.
Stakeholder Engagement Plan
Stakeholder and required relationshipWhat we need from them / what they need from usPotential customers — InvolveYou need feedback, trust, adoption and purchases from them; they test the product, share honest feedback and ultimately buy and use it. They need from you a safe, affordable, trustworthy product with transparency about ingredients and clear information about how it is made. They gain an affordable, natural skincare product that may better suit their needs, but could lose money and trust if the product does not perform as promised. You should involve them in decisions about price, packaging, scent, product feel, and what benefits matter most to them.Cosmetic formulation and skincare experts — CollaborateYou need knowledge, technical expertise and validation from them to ensure the product is properly formulated, safe and consistent. They need from you clear product goals, accurate ingredient information, cooperation and recognition for their expertise. They gain a successful product they can be proud to have helped develop and potential ongoing professional opportunities, but could lose professional reputation if the product is poorly formulated or unsafe. Their technical knowledge should influence your decisions about formulation, safety, testing, and appropriate product claims.Regulatory and compliance authorities — ConsultYou need guidance, approval and compliance information from them to clarify what requirements the product must meet before it can be marketed and sold. They need from you transparency, accurate documentation, testing evidence and compliance. They gain a compliant business contributing to a safer, more responsible cosmetics market, but could lose consumer safety and public trust if inadequate compliance allows an unsafe product onto the market. Rather than simply informing them after decisions are made, you should seek their guidance before finalising the product and its claims.Farmers and livestock owners — CollaborateYou need access to raw materials and reliable supply from them to provide suitable cow dung consistently and hygienically. They need from you fair payment, reliable purchasing and clear collection requirements. They gain additional income and a reliable use for an agricultural by-product that might otherwise be wasted, but could lose time, resources or income if the business fails to purchase consistently or payments are unreliable. They should help you decide practical issues around sourcing, collection, hygiene, storage and supply of cow dung.Retailers and distributors — ConsultYou need market access, trust and distribution from them to help place the product where customers can see, purchase and try it. They need from you a quality product, reliable supply, attractive packaging, marketing support and a product customers will want. They gain new revenue from selling a unique product with potential customer demand, but could lose money, shelf space and customer trust if the product does not sell or customers are dissatisfied. They should contribute to decisions about packaging, pricing, product presentation and how the soap should reach customers.Your Team Charter
Your Team Charter**
Project purpose: Your foundation rests on entrepreneurship, marketing, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and a product concept, but you are building toward a business accountable for overall direction, decisions, finances, partnerships, and performance through the founder.
People and expertise: You have identified seven accountable leads across product development and formulation, raw-material sourcing, production, regulatory compliance, marketing and sales, distribution, and customer feedback, each bringing specialist responsibility to their domain.
Capability gaps: You recognize that scientific product validation, regulatory expertise, customer evidence, and supply-chain experience are missing and should be filled through collaboration with customers, cosmetic experts, regulators, and farmers rather than building these internally.
Unaddressed roles: You have not addressed who owns relationships with cosmetic formulation experts, regulatory authorities, farmers and livestock owners, retailers and distributors, or potential customers for ongoing engagement.
Decision-making framework: The founder makes final business decisions, but decisions affecting customers, product safety, and formulation are informed by relevant experts and stakeholder feedback, grounded in customer feedback, product-testing results, costs, sales data, expert advice, and regulatory requirements rather than assumptions.
Handling disagreement: Everyone is encouraged to explain their reasoning and provide evidence, the team discusses openly to agree on what best serves customers and project goals, and if disagreement persists, the person accountable for that area decides, with the founder making final decisions on major business matters.
Raising concerns: Anyone can say "I think we're solving the wrong problem" without being dismissed; concerns are documented, investigated, and tested with customers before deciding whether to change direction, with regular review of customer feedback and project results to enable course correction if evidence shows the original problem or solution was wrong.
Roles, Responsibilities and Relationship Owners
External relationshipWho on the team owns itPotential customersNo owner yetCosmetic formulation & skincare expertsNo owner yetRegulatory & compliance authoritiesNo owner yetFarmers & livestock ownersNo owner yetRetailers & distributorsNo owner yetFunders & investorsNo owner yetYour People Gaps and Project Pathway
You have been treating skincare retailers, beauty professionals and regulatory bodies as your customer when Nomsa—the actual person who decides what product to buy and use—is your customer, and you have not yet talked to her.
You overlooked the cosmetic formulation experts and compliance officers who could stop your project entirely: without a properly formulated and legally compliant product, you cannot sell anything, yet no one on your team currently owns these relationships.
You have no internal owner for the relationship with cosmetic formulation and skincare experts, creating the risk of delays in formulation, testing and product-safety decisions.
You have no internal owner for the relationship with regulatory and compliance authorities, creating the risk that missing requirements could delay product approval or market entry.
You lack the scientific product-validation capability, regulatory expertise, customer evidence and supply-chain experience this project requires—gaps you identified but have not yet filled.
Your single greatest people risk is that potential customers have not tested the product and may refuse it when they learn it contains cow dung, rendering all other relationships irrelevant: you need to involve Nomsa and people like her in product testing and decision-making immediately, not inform them about a finished product.
Your immediate next step is to recruit or contract a compliance specialist and a product-development specialist, assign each one clear ownership of their critical relationships, and begin structured conversations with potential customers before finalising any product formulation or claims.