INSIDE A SMALL BUSINESS: September 2023 Women's Biz Magazine

What was the inspiration behind you ultimately launching your own business?

I owe a lot to my grandfather. He was a chemist and serial entrepreneur who ran marketing agencies, made wooden toys (so ahead of his time!) and manufactured natural skincare products. I believe I inherited his entrepreneurial spirit and his passion for traditional, nutritional medicine and the creation of skincare products that work. My grandfather was incredibly wise and knowledgeable. As a young girl, I was always fascinated by his creations and was constantly learning from him. Upon having my own acne challenges, I was determined to find a solution, in the way he would have done – by caring for the whole body.

In 2005, I came across a medical hypothesis on the use of high dose Vitamin B5 for acne, which showed promising results. I didn’t believe in supplements then, but was desperate for something else other than the same old acne creams and washes that didn’t work.

I then embarked on intensive research and started experimenting on myself with a combination of high potency Vitamin B5 and other acne fighting nutrients, such as Vitamin B3, that are supported by the best scientific evidence. After two months, my skin completely cleared up and even started to glow. I was amazed at the results and decided that I need to bring this real acne solution to other acne sufferers!

emerged, and my skin continued to break-out regularly well into my twenties. I blamed it on the oily skin genes that I inherited from my father.

I was a shy teenager and having acne didn’t help with my confidence, as I was very selfconscious. When others looked at me, I avoided eye contact, particularly when my skin was breaking out.

Throughout university and the early years of employment, I continued to get pimples. Even as a student with limited resources, I would spend money on expensive Dermalogica and Clinique creams thinking, ‘Surely these expensive ones would work better than the cheap supermarket products?’

Why did you choose the skincare sector for your enterprise?

As a child, I always suffered from mysterious skin issues. When I became a young teen, acne lasting benefits, it has to be holistic and multi-faceted, otherwise any benefits are short lived. The SkinB5 way reflects my strong belief in working with our body to overcome health issues, including acne. SkinB5 works because it supports the body at a cellular level through leveraging the restorative and healing powers of multiple synergistic nutrients, at clinically significant amounts to simultaneously address the main causes of acne. These include regulating skin oil, supporting healthy hormones, strengthening immunity and promoting healing. In addition to our patented nutraceutical supplements, our range also includes topical skincare products, with Vitamin B5 and natural extracts, to help restore and protect the skin barrier, because a healthy skin barrier can resist acne breakouts - that is the innate ability of our skin!

And when they inevitably didn’t, I moved onto the next cream. Each time the experience ate away at my self-esteem.

So when my own concoction with high potency Vitamin B5 cleared my acne, I decided to bring it to the world!

So, I choose the skincare sector out of necessity, but I am also driven to help other acne sufferers to restore healthy skin and confidence, because I know what it’s like to suffer from acne.

How does your brand stand apart in such a competitive market?

When my own combination of high potency Vitamin B5 and other acne fighting nutrients, such as Vitamin B3, worked to clear my face and body completely, a light bulb moment went off. I realised the whole acne industry is approaching treatment the wrong way! All of the sudden it made sense why a holistic inside-out approach works, because our skin is the largest organ in our body.

SkinB5 being a global brand - how did you strategise your marketing to achieve this?

Hong Kong. We immediately signed up distributors from the Philippines and Singapore from our first trade show! Back in Australia, we didn’t have enough money to launch into the retail channel, so we launched skinb5.com (not .com.au) a global eCommerce website, where we deployed low cost online tactics to be seen by acne sufferers, including posting on acne forums, which are mostly US based, and search engine optimisation, which reached people across the globe.

I had doubts but was amazed when orders started coming through our website, not only from Australia, but also from the United States, Europe and Asia! This validates my suspicions that there are lots of desperate acne sufferers out there, like myself, who are willing to try something new, even unknown brands, in the quest to find a product that works.

What I also learnt from my father’s high-risk approach to business is that this kind of short-sighted approach likely leads to losing everything, and he did. Not only did he lose money, but he lost our family businesses, properties, and most significantly, his gambles cost him his own family.

Because of this, I have always taken a calculated risk approach in my SkinB5 journey, creating a completely new way to treat acne, when I didn’t have a skincare industry background, is very risky.I am risking money, my time and future. So I plan things out methodically to ensure I walk this fine line between taking risks in order to innovate and being too fearful, which leads to inaction.

Being absolutely passionate about what I do, because SkinB5 helps transform the lives of acne sufferers, is the magic ingredient that makes everything happen and keeps me and my team on track.

How do you see Skin B5 growing and developing in the next few years?

SkinB5 has started a rapidly growing phase where our products have just launched into Priceline Pharmacy in Australia, and overseas our reputation as the holistic acne treatment that actually works, has seen sales increase. In the next few years, SkinB5 will continue to grow into a leading dermatologist-backed acne treatment, not just in Australia, but internationally including South East Asia and the USA.

Even today, many influencer hyped acne products are still obsessed with targeting the symptoms with more creams and washes, rather than addressing the root causes. Many supplements that claim to clear up the skin are nothing more than a zinc or probiotic supplement that do not simultaneously address many interrelated causes of acne, which is a complex skin condition.

To treat acne effectively with

Having lived in many countries including Asia and the United States before I started SkinB5, I have always been keenly aware of the much bigger markets beyond Australia - and I have seen people literally from all walks of life suffering from acne. Acne is a skin condition that affects the majority of the world’s population in the same way. So my go-to-market strategy has always been globally minded.

So when I learnt about Austrade (Australian Trade Commission), I presented to them that I was launching a nutraceuticalled acne treatment, and they immediately invited me to join their natural health delegation. From there, launched SkinB5 at Cosmoprof

What is the biggest lesson you've learnt on your business journey you'd share with other aspiring founders?

My biggest lesson is pioneering something completely new that requires a paradigm shift takes a long time - it is only now, after a decade since I came up with the patented technology, that the mainstream customers are starting to understand more intuitively that the SkinB5 Way, which is a wellness approach to effectively manage acne and related skin conditions, is a sustainable way to manage problematic skin for long term results. When you are working on something innovative, you need 10x the ability to believe in your own vision, persist and not take ‘no' for an answer.