Success without frontiers

FORMER DRAGONS’ DEN CANDIDATE EMMA THORNTON SAYS THAT ORGANISING HERSELF AND NAVIGATING NEW BREXIT BUSINESS RULES HAVE ENABLED HER SKINCARE BRAND TO FLOURISH

A lot can change in four years. Just ask Emma Thornton.

In March 2018, the 30-year-old former marketing professionalturned-entrepreneur launched her first organic skincare product.

Today, her True

Skincare brand is stocked by leading supermarket chains, online retailers and highstreet stores, and boasts a forecasted annual turnover of £1million.

Emma conceived the idea of making organic and waterless beauty products after realising she could save money by sourcing the ingredients herself, rather than using third-party manufacturers. “My background is in premium beauty brands,” she explains. “It gave me an insight into how much it costs to make the products.”

Two months after launching her first product, an organic facial oil, Emma won her first contract: “The retailer confirmed the order, and the next day I quit my job and set up my company.”

In 2020, True Skincare won six Beauty Shortlist Awards, and last year Emma appeared on the BBC show Dragons’ Den. Deborah Meaden made an investment offer,

opted to go it alone.

At the same time as Emma was negotiating distribution deals, she was also ensuring her company successfully navigated the rule changes brought about by Brexit.

As Emma sources ingredients from France and Germany, regulations introduced on January 1, 2022 mean she now needs to submit customs declarations by the time the goods reach the British border.

So after conquering the Dragons’ Den and sailing through Brexit, what are Emma’s hopes for the future of True Skincare? “With US and European launches coming up over the next year, we’re going from production of about 100,000 units a year to a forecast of two million, with a projected turnover – if everything goes to plan – of about £13million.”