Made local, sold global

In 2000, brothers David and Justin Letschert purchased Union Swiss. The company manufactured 120 products under 10 brand names, the majority of which they sold off by 2002 to focus on Bio-Oil as a core product.

At the time, both David and Justin were chartered accountants with no experience in manufacturing skin care products. But their passion, drive and sound financial backgrounds provided a solid foundation from which to catapult Bio-Oil into rapid success.

They opted for a hybrid business model, contract manufacturing Bio- Oil at Columbia Pharmaceuticals where the brothers had an office and maintained a hands-on approach.

‘This model was unlike any other relationship between a brand owner and their contract manufacturer,’ David explains. ‘We purchased all the packaging and raw materials at no cost to Columbia. Guided by Frank Beetge, Columbia’s managing director, we integrated ourselves into production, spec’d machinery and made it our purpose to nurture Bio-Oil into the successful and versatile brand we believed it could be.’

Focused on skin care R&D

There are many more reasons why the brand is so successful. The company is a R&D skin care business and true outsource multinational. Union Swiss is also not driven by profit – instead the company has always focused on researching and developing better products for the global skin care market.

‘Bio-Oil has only ever launched products better than those currently on the market. We could have launched hundreds of “me-too” products under the Bio-Oil brand name, but we didn’t. We are not driven by profit; we only want to research and develop better products. That’s the Bio-Oil brand,’ reveals Justin.

Kim Lombard, managing director of Union Swiss, adds: ‘Not many manufacturers can say that, out of one facility in South Africa, they manufacture products for the world. An absolute sense of endeavour comes from being a globally connected, consumer-centric business. Every decision made at Union Swiss is grounded on the belief that we have great products, to which everyone in the world should have access. This is why we continue to seek out distributors in the markets where we don’t have a presence to ensure Bio-Oil is available worldwide, in 195 countries, for the next 100 years.’

Kim came back into the business in January 2016, just as Union Swiss was entering its high growth phase. Since then, she says the company has grown its staff complement across all branches from less than 40 people to almost 200.

‘We see an unbelievable opportunity for people to join the business, to feel connected and make a contribution to our growth,’ she says.

Union Swiss employs many of the industry’s most skilled individuals and has a responsibility to its staff to ensure the sustainability of the company. As a heavily mechanised business, it has created 80 additional jobs in the past two years.