The Journal, October 2012
After years contemplating a new career while working as a publisher and gallery curator in London and Berlin, Louise Vincent’s mind was made up when she had a nasty skiing accident.
She developed the idea for a natural sports skincare range while recovering and her new business has just won backing from two of the North East’s most prominent businesswomen.
Vincent said: “I had knocked my shoulder out skiing and wanted something to rub on to make it feel better that was natural and felt and smelled good. I looked and thought if I can’t find it in a big Swiss ski resort then it probably didn’t exist,” she said.
“In galleries and publishing I had always been organising other people. I really wanted to do something for myself and project manage my own business rather than other people’s”
In 2010 she moved from London back to her home town of Gosforth in Newcastle and researched her natural skincare products with Newcastle University scientists and sports physiotherapists.
“I knew there would be a market as people want something that makes them feel better when training or doing outdoor activities and also are concerned about green products and the provenance of the products they use,” added Vincent.
Once she had found the right formula and how to make it she invested her savings and won an £8,000 Business Link grant to help her launch her new company Natural Hero.
A lot of hard work and meetings later and she had the product stocked in 56 Holland & Barratt stores this year as well as outdoor chain Snow & Rock and department store Fenwick.
And now she has raised £100,000 from venture capital firm Northstar Ventures and another £120,000 from entrepreneurs Fiona Cruickshank and Sara Davies, who has grown the County Durham firm Crafters Companion from a student enterprise into an international success.
It is the largest investment yet from the Gabriel Fund – an all-female venture capital business launched last year by Cruickshank, who founded Northumberland drug firms Specials Laboratory and SCM Pharma, and Caroline Theobald, Swedish consul and founder of Newcastle networking group The Bridge Club.
Cruickshank said: “Louise has done a truly incredible job to date in terms of starting the business from scratch, creating a brand and building regular sales from some impressive retailers and wholesalers.
“The next stage for the business will be to build consumer awareness of the products and continue to secure trade listings to help drive sales of existing products, whilst also looking at developing new products to add to the existing range.” Vincent said: “The business is heading in the right direction and we expect to see a real boom in the sports and wellbeing market post-London 2012. We are going to more expos and talking to more retailers and I hope we can go to sales of around £250,000. I am optimistic we can grow well, but I don’t know how much yet.”
Natural Hero’s range features a Hot Ginger Muscle Rub and a Cool Peppermint Muscle Spritz, and are advertised as containing 98% natural ingredients. Vincent says the products work by acting as rubefacients, or “counter irritants” which suppress muscle discomfort caused by physical activity.