“From Zero to Millionaire: Meet the Inspiring Joanna Jensen, Founder of Childs Farm!”

Joanna Jensen, 52, created the family skincare brand Childs Farm in 2011 while trying to alleviate her daughters’ skin problems. Using credit cards and starting from her country home in Hampshire, she used her experience to establish and build a successful business in the baby and children’s skin care market. Turnover rose from £305,000 in 2011 to £17 million in 2021. The Basingstoke-based company currently employs 35 people.

The company’s branded baby moisturizer, one of its key products, took off in 2016 when a social media post featuring the mother of a toddler discussing its fast-acting effects went viral, and again in 2017. , when a bottle was sold every 20 seconds in the UK.

The businessman, who survived divorce, major abdominal surgery and cervical cancer, sold just 92 per cent of Childs Farm in March 2022 to consumer goods group PZ Cussons for £36.8m. He retains a stake of just over 8 percent and continues to work at the company as a brand ambassador.

Did you think you would get to where you are?
At school I thought I would become an actress. I loved singing and musical theater, but my mother considered a theater career risky. In retrospect, it doesn’t surprise me where I am now: she was a precocious, determined and conscientious child. I wasn’t afraid of running a business when I started my interior design company at 21 years old.

After I had Bella [who suffered from eczema], I saw that there were no natural products for sensitive skin. I had always been interested in skin care and knew which naturally derived ingredients were suitable for young skin. I did my research, literally at the kitchen table. I read vast amounts of background material on ingredients and experimented myself, creating creams and lotions.

Was your first £1 million a major milestone?
It happened in 2018, but I didn’t realize it until I saw the year-end accounts in November. It was all a bit of a blur and we didn’t celebrate. We were so caught up in the pandemonium surrounding a social media post that went viral that everyone was working full steam ahead. Every moment was spent trying to source bottles, pumps and labels at breakneck speed, because we had to manage the stratospheric demand, a 145% increase.

What was the biggest challenge, Brexit or the pandemic?
I can honestly say that Covid affected us much more than Brexit. Apart from Ireland, our international distribution was outside the Eurozone, mainly to Australia and the Middle East.

We made sure Ireland ordered stock well before Brexit. If you have food with an expiration date within three days, Brexit has been painful getting your produce to Ireland. We have much more time. With cosmetics, the shelf life is 36 months.

The pandemic affected all four of our manufacturing sites in the UK because we were a priority business, baby supply. When factory staff fell ill with Covid, entire production lines were shut down.

The manufacturer had to account for delays due to a lack of personnel, so delivery times fell from six to 16 weeks. We face enormous challenges with our supply chain. Sometimes you had stock, and sometimes your production of stock was cut at the last minute. Nothing worked smoothly. They were two exhausting years. Every time you put the lid on something, another lid pops out, as if a key ingredient isn’t available. Financially, we did well. Turnover in 2018 was £14 million. In 2020 it was £19.2 million.

How have you coped with high energy costs?
When Russia invaded the Ukraine, our energy and logistics costs increased dramatically. We had handled previous price increases during Covid, but this really eroded our margins. In February 2022, we had to increase our recommended retail price from £4 to £4.50 across the range for a 250ml bottle.

Was it a problem to hire staff before the sale?
It’s always difficult in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because it’s a different way of working, plus we’re in Basingstoke. Although many candidates wanted to work from home, I believe that when you join an SME you need to be close to the other people you work with to get the best results. It was more difficult to recruit marketing staff because they largely wanted to be based in London. Maybe post-Covid some of the hunger and commitment to do it right is gone as there are plenty of job vacancies.

What did you have to sacrifice to start the business?
The biggest sacrifice was wasting time with my children, who were two and four years old. I had to spend most of my disposable income on child care while researching the infant and child personal care market. He also ran the farmhouse as a bed and breakfast and rented a large barn as a wedding venue. Until last year he had been working at a very intense level since he was 40 years old.

What was your best preparation for business?
It was watching and learning from my grandparents, who ran a very successful antiques business in Hampshire. They lived it and breathed it. They were Regency specialists and sold furniture to America. The store, next door to his house, was always open and a hive of activity. I loved going there during my teenage years. I would often talk to the restorer on site and go with my grandparents to auctions.

What is your basic business philosophy?
First, billing, billing, billing. If you don’t have billing, you don’t have business. Second, know your consumer. You have to know that what you are creating is what they want. You need to think like your consumer and be your consumer to understand it. This was not difficult for me as I had two little ones with irritated skin.

What was the toughest period of your career?
I would say 2014, when I lost my house through divorce, and I lost a VC investor four days before they signed. This meant I lost £3m of growth capital. A few months later I had major abdominal surgery to remove a 2 kg tumor. Although in a lot of pain, I had to continue. I remember creating shareholder agreements from my hospital bed.

Do you believe in leaving everything to your family?
I believe that everyone should make their own way in life, otherwise there is no knowing the value of money or the value of effort. I strongly believe in financing higher education because I don’t want my children to start their careers in debt. I wrote my first will when I was 19 years old. . . and another after my divorce.

Do you want to continue until you fall?
No. When I sold PZ Cussons in March 2022, I agreed that I would keep a small stake in the business until June 2025, when I will be 55 years old. Although I am committed to Childs Farm, I will figure out what I want to do. for the next two years. It will certainly include non-executive director roles, supporting early- and mid-stage women-founded companies.

He was looking for private equity investment to expand the business. When PZ Cussons expressed interest in buying, it made perfect sense. At the time of the sale it had 25 shareholders, two of them significant, but I had the largest single shareholding. The sale has left me in a position where the chronic financial worry of the past 12 years has ended.

Cussons is focused on Childs Farm’s international expansion, targeting growth in Ireland, Austria through drug retailer BEPA and the US through e-commerce from May.

Have you made any pension forecast?
I absolutely have. I was an early adopter of paying a private pension, at age 21, and have done so throughout my career. As a director of the company, I’m glad I contributed so much, because he allowed me to lend the company 50 percent of my fund when it needed capital.

This was through a Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS), a type of pension available to limited partnerships or partnerships. As a director of a company, you have full discretion over how to invest your personal pension fund, whether it be in your own business or commercial property. I don’t think many people are aware of this.

My lifetime pension allowance, of just over £1m, was maxed out in 2021.

Do you believe in giving something back to the community?
I have always worked closely with the Disabled Riding Association, and in 2019 Childs Farm donated a substantial amount of money to build their new head office in Worcestershire. I also support Paralympics GB and own a Paralympic dressage half horse with rider Natasha Baker OBE. I have always loved horses and riding. I first sat in the chair when I was a little boy, since my mother was a show judge.