How to Make Organic Insect Repellant (Home-Based Business)

Cater to the health conscious by providing them with all-natural, effective and organic insect repellant.

No matter where you are or what time of the year it is, mosquitos will always be a bane to our existence. Catering to a niche market is an added advantage; an example would be IndigoBaby, an online baby boutique whose top-selling product is the baby-friendly  Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me insect repellant. “We added lavender to our formulation to mask the citronella, which can be quite foul-smelling, “says Denise Gonzalez, co-founder of  IndigoBaby.

Startup capital is P40 per bottle, and time to finish is a few minutes to produce a single bottle.

Materials Needed

• Oils including citronella, eucalyptus, peppermint, tea tree, and other scents that naturally repel insects, P72 to 361 per 100ml. Available from chemical stores.
• Spritz bottles, P29 to 40 each
• Funnel
• Olive or vegetable oil, P69 to  P200 per liter.

Getting Started

1. Carefully measure 10 to 15 drops of any essential oil of your choice (feel free to combine oils to create a unique scent), and pour it into spritz bottle.
2. Combine 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Shake the mixture to blend.

Tips: As with anything you put on your body, be sure to test a small amount of the mixture on an area of your body, say your forearm. If, after a day, there are no adverse reactions, you should be good to go.

How Much Will You Make

It will cost about P40 to produce a bottle. You can mark this up about 200 times total cost — after adding labor, packaging, and overhead — and still be competitive in the market. Expect to break even after selling about 100 bottles.

source: Katrina Tan, www.entrepreneur.com.ph, photo by Ocs Alvarez