A UK start-up has been given an invaluable boost to its exporting strategy by winning mentoring from the founder of Bulldog – the UK’s largest natural skincare brand.
Heidi Crawford and Claudine Sinnett, founders of Organic Monkey, won mentoring sessions from Simon Duffy after entering a competition run by Growing Business.
Simon Duffy and co-founder Rhodri Ferrier founded Bulldog in 2006 and have already seen their male skincare products achieve huge success in foreign markets. Bulldog recently secured a major distribution deal, which will see its products launch in all 300 Whole Foods Market store across America. Whole Foods Market is the world’s largest natural and organic foods retailer, with sales of over $9bn in 2010.
Brighton-based Organic Monkey has developed a range of Fairtrade and organic skincare products for babies. The founders are now hoping to take advantage of Duffy’s expertise to devise, deliver and tweak a successful exporting strategy and take their business to the next level.
Duffy said: “I was attracted to the idea of being a mentor because when we were starting up, we meet some great people who were generous with their time and expertise. Talking things through with industry experts can be a really valuable thing.
“Over the next ten years, I believe that the British economy will come to rely on innovative start-ups more and more. I'm hoping that Organic Monkey can become a big success in the UK and beyond.”
Said Sinnett: “We entered this competition because we saw Bulldog was involved – we really respect the brand and hoped we’d gain direction from a company a few steps ahead of us. It’s going to be really beneficial to learn from someone who has been where we want to go.”
Both Duffy and the Organic Monkey founders will be keeping Growing Business readers updated with regular blogs, charting Organic Monkey’s journey over the coming months.