Abi and Margaret Weeds of Essential Care

Essential Care was set up as a family business in 2003 although Margaret has been creating her own skincare products since the 1970s. The company remains a family operation, with Margaret creating the products and Abi taking care of the business.

Essential Care won the 2006 RSCPA Good Business Award for Cosmetics.

• Can you give a short history of how you got to where you are now, including why and when you 'went organic'?
  Abi: Essential Care's products are the creations of my mother, herbalist and aromatherapist, Margaret Weeds. Her philosophy has always been chemical free and organic; she became an organic gardener long before it became fashionable. We founded Essential Care together with my Dad, Colin. Right from the outset we wanted to be recognised as genuinely organic, so we opted to put our products through organic certification. We chose the Soil Association because their standards are the highest in Europe.

• Can you describe a typical day in your life?
  Abi: Up at 7.30am, straight to the computer with breakfast in hand and go through my emails. I look after all our online customer queries and intend always to do so because it keeps me in touch with our customers’ needs. I will usually then call or visit some of our stockists. Tackling other issues related to our business growth such as raising brand awareness, marketing or design meetings takes up the rest of the day and usually spills into the evening.
  Margaret: Up at 7.00am, reply to emails, arrive at the office around 8.30am and check the day’s production schedule. Product creation usually lasts until 5.30pm interspersed with talking to customers and ordering raw materials. After dinner I sit down with a glass of wine and research new ingredients!

• Who are your customers and where are they?
  Health or organic stores across the UK, mail order customers around the UK and an increasing number of distributors across the globe.

• Organic principles – why do they matter?
  They form a very broad social charter that will help sustainability of life: From encouraging responsible agriculture so that feeding ourselves is healthy & doesn’t contribute to pollution, to respecting human rights and animal welfare, recycling/re-using industrial waste safely and productively.

• What does the Soil Association mean to you?
  It is the benchmark in the UK and Europe for organic standards. We would always have faith in a Soil Association certified product because we know what it requires to become a licensee!

• What is your greatest achievement?
  Creating the first ever Soil Association certified shampoo.

• How do you plan to progress in the future? What is your vision?
  We'd like to continue breaking the boundaries in organic health & beauty products, so that more people will use them and lead a healthier, safer lifestyle.

• If you were starting all over again, what would you do differently?
  Outsource more periphery work to the experts from the outset and focus on our strength, which is product creation and formulation.

• What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
  You can only achieve what you believe in.

• Who or what's your biggest inspiration?
  Abi: Many people inspire me but perhaps from sport, people such as Paula Radcliffe and Steve Redgrave and from politics, Nelson Mandela.
  Margaret: Abi drives me to have the confidence to break the boundaries.

• What is the key to your success?
  Abi: Having truly wonderful products, thanks to Mum’s years of hard work, and never resting on your laurels. It’s important to make sure you are doing what your customers want.

• What do you love most about what you do?
  Abi: When our products make a meaningful difference to someone's life, such as clearing up skin problems like eczema.
  Margaret: Working closely with my family who are helping me to realise a dream.

• What keeps you awake at night?
  Abi: Figuring out what I could do better.
  Margaret: Formulation and raw material challenges.

• What single thing would most improve your life?
  Abi: Free train travel forever!
  Margaret: A huge budget.

• What do you find most frustrating about what you do?
  The lack of organic legislation for non-food products that confuses customers. Consumers trust the word "organic" because of the solid legislation for food and drink but it’s meaningless in the context of health & beauty products or textiles unless they know about certification.

• Any unusual hobbies or past careers?
  Abi: I am a former British junior champion in orienteering which is a mixture of cross country running and a treasure hunt, usually in a forest. I've represented Great Britain on international teams numerous times.
  Margaret: I was a natural therapist for over 20 years and am a trained medical herbalist.

• How can the organic market be improved?
  For health & beauty products introduce legislation that prevents unsubstantiated use of the word 'organic'. We need to bring everything into line with food legislation. If not there's a real danger that the reputation of organic food will be tainted because consumers will see products, such as shampoos, described as 'organic' that are laden with chemicals. That apart, the status quo is exploiting consumers who aren’t in the know because they’re often paying a premium for a product that they believe is produced to organic standards which maybe far from it.

• How can we get more people to buy organic?
  Educate them about the urgent need to look after the environment and their health. Demonstrate that organic products are the highest quality and fantastic to eat and use.

• What's the main benefit of being organic for you?
  Organic certification gives us an independent guarantee of authenticity that consumers can trust.

• What other organic ventures do you admire and why?
  Green & Blacks, although it belongs to Cadbury's now, it has done a good job of raising organic awareness to the general public.

• Supermarkets – good or bad?
  Some, such as Waitrose that care about the producers, quality issues and sustainability of supply, are good. Those that jump on the bandwagon of every latest trend and pretend to be something they’re not, aren’t healthy for anyone.

• What is the biggest threat to what you do?
  Large companies/brands continuing to be allowed to market uncertified "pseudo" organic bodycare. It misleads the public into thinking that the quality is the same as certified organic bodycare, undermining the integrity and efforts of those dedicated to the organic movement.

• What's the best thing about organic farms?
  Other than the obvious biodiversity and environmental advantages, there is the possibility of inviting children to visit them to learn about organic ideals.

• What's the best thing about organic food?
  Abi: Eating as much of it as you like because you know it’s good for you…
  Margaret: The taste! And appreciating the safety of it.

• What is your favourite meal?
  Abi: Moules marinières followed by most things out of a Jamie Oliver cookbook.
  Margaret: Perfectly cooked, really fresh food that's lovingly prepared and cooked by someone else and served with lovely wine, all organic of course!

• If I was Prime Minister I would...
  Abi: Decouple our foreign policy from the USA's, introduce a continental-style health care system, increase public transport subsidies and force the rail companies to be more flexible, promote sustainable food in public institutions and enforce the use of solar panels and alternative energy in all buildings.

• The world would be a better place if...
  Everyone had a job.

• I'd like to be remembered for...
  Any contribution to the sustainability of our planet.

• When were you happiest?
  Abi & Margaret: Now.

• What is your greatest fear?
  Not achieving what we’d like to do and are capable of.

• What is your favourite word?
  Challenge.

• What would be your 'Desert Island' luxury?
  Abi: Champagne and Green & Blacks chocolate.
  Margaret: A few good books, pen and paper.

• Is the customer always right?
  Right and wrong is always a matter of opinion!

To find out more about Essential Care visit www.essential-care.co.uk