Skincare products from NZ plants are big export earner

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Suzanne Hall compares the growth of her natural cosmetics business, Living Nature, to the growth of her 17-year-old son: "I can't think if a better analogy," she says.

"It's been that journey of incredible moments of joy but also quiet desperation ... watching things grow and take on a life of their own."

The son has crawled, walked and is now considering university study or overseas travel.

The business has fumbled and expanded. Six months ago a chief executive officer was appointed to take charge of its burgeoning global presence, allowing Hall to concentrate on the creative rather than the administrative side of the business.

The mother is no longer leaned on.

Hall's eldest child was born just two weeks before Living Nature was launched.

But her vision for her company - to create an ethical, sustainable and profitable business which would support the community and provide inspiration - had been bouncing around in her head for years.

She had scribbled the logo - a mix of swirls that incorporates koru and celtic designs, waves and the yin yang symbol - since she was a child growing up in Britain.

Hall, who trained in chemistry and had aspirations to be an artist, worked in labs before moving to Kerikeri. At 24, with a young child on her hip and $8000 savings in her bank, she considered her options.

Her partner at the time was not supportive and Hall declared she'd make her own way.

"That was a gift I really thanked him for. If he hadn't said [he wouldn't support her] I would have still been pottering around the garden.

"I have had things happen to me and people have said that's unfortunate, but they've all been gifts to me. They have made me go to a place that I wouldn't have gone to, with my inclination to lounge around."

Living Nature uses natural ingredients, sourcing as much as possible from New Zealand's unique plants, clays and shell products. The packaging is recyclable.

The business is still based in Kerikeri, a decision Hall made to support the rural community through providing work.

Her employment policy is flexible, sometimes to her detriment. She wants a business where a woman can have a child but "sometimes there won't be anyone there in the school holidays and I'm thinking, hmm ... that wasn't a good decision".

But now, 16 years after Living Nature was created, Hall heads a company with more than 80 staff in New Zealand, offices in Britain and Germany and turnover of more than $10 million.

Turnover this year is expected to pass $20 million after a large order from Korea, one of 12 countries to which Living Nature exports.

Hall says in the early years it was vital to export because there was little interest domestically for New Zealand products.

Then attitudes changed and a patriotic pride in locally made goods boosted domestic sales. This year exports will, for the first time in four years, overtake domestic sales.

The company - which is extremely labour-intensive - has been profitable for the past four years.

Merchant banker Bill Birnie invested to help it expand and is now the dominant shareholder.

Hall retains a 25 per cent shareholding but has control over the company's philosophical direction.

In five years she expects a turnover of $200 million and wants Living Nature to be the world authority on natural skincare.

Her son will no doubt by then be established in a career of his own.

ON THE WEB Living Nature