Essential Services + Retail
ESSENTIAL SERVICES + RETAIL
During this webinar we covered how essential services and retail businesses like EO Products and OzHarvest have pivoted or seen their business model shift and how they have adapted quickly to focus on consumer needs.
EO Products has made a variety of products, however, due to Covid-19, hand sanitizer specifically has been a sought after product. Founder Susan Griffin-Black shares her insights building and managing the company through the last 25 years and how she quickly has pivoted her companies focus, team and manufacturing process to manage demand.
Joined by Ronni Kahn, Founder and CEO of OzHarvest, an organization that delivers foods and services to the homeless and underprivileged, Ronni shared how OzHarvest have shifted their focus to food rescue efforts and donations to keep their vans on the road.
TOP TAKEAWAYS
Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor and Co-Founder of Ladies Who Launch key takeaways:
This is like a triathlon and we're headed into the run part so pace yourself
Great time to get partnerships done where historically ego had always gotten in the way
Learning to not overly fixate on missed opportunities
Over communicate, and then communicate again
Look for the pivot that becomes the feature not the bug
Specific acts of kindness (watch the end here where Ronni shares her story at the grocery store and tell me you didn’t shed a tear…)
PANELISTS
Susan Griffin-Black
Co-CEO + Founder of EO Products
Susan Griffin-Black is the Founder and Co-CEO of EO Products, makers of EO and Everyone. As one of the early pioneers in the clean beauty and personal care movement and a leader in the naturals space, Susan has been a champion for conscious, purpose-led businesses around the world.
In the 25 years since she founded EO Products, Susan has continued to embody the very values of the industry she helped create. Susan’s passion for elevated personal care was awakened while on a business trip in London by the lavender essential oils she discovered in a Covent Garden apothecary shop. In 1995, Susan and her then-husband, Brad, started blending pure essential oils for friends and family in their San Francisco garage. Rapidly developing a cult following, Bloomingdale's reached out and asked Susan and Brad to create aromatherapy blends for their holiday gift guide. As they continued to experiment in a three-gallon stockpot in their garage, they were able to formulate the very first foaming shower gel free of sodium lauryl sulfate, a widely used,potentially-harmful lathering agent.
The early trials in their garage were the beginnings of EO, and the innovation that continually followed fueled the business’ growth. As the business grew, Susan and Brad were continually guided by a strict formulation credo around the principle that there was a place for natural, safe, and efficacious personal care products beautifully scented with pure essential oils. In 2011, Susan and Brad set out to widen the lanes of accessibility to high-quality, natural and safe personal care and launched Everyone for Everybody. At a more affordable price-point and in larger formats with formulations designed to delight all ages.
Today the two brands, EO and Everyone for Everybody, provide EWG certified, natural, healthful and accessible products for everyone. Susan Griffin-Black was born to be her own boss and has followed her driving sense of beauty and style throughout her entire career. Her passion for design led to her co-owning two successful clothing stores at 21-years-old before ultimately designing several lines of clothing for Esprit.
Outside of EO Products, Susan serves as a mentor and advocate for many nonprofits and small businesses and is passionate about supporting female entrepreneurs.
Susan has studied Zen Buddhism for more than 30 years and believes that the eightfold path has guided her decision making, both in business and in life. Susan’s aesthetic and quiet strength pervades every aspect of EO Products; she is the heart and soul of both brands and their respective place in the world.
Ronni Kahn
CEO + Founder OzHarvest
Driven by a determination to find purpose in her life, the simple act of rescuing good food and delivering it to people in need quickly caught on, and in 2004 OzHarvest was born.
Ronni Kahn is renowned for her boundless energy, infectious enthusiasm and not taking no for an answer! Her ability to inspire and motivate everyone she meets has seen OzHarvest grow from humble beginnings to become Australia’s leading food rescue organisation. She is relentless in the fight against food waste and in 2019 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia.
Starting a charity was not something she set out to do. As the owner of a successful event business, she saw the huge volume of food going to waste every day, in fact, she was part of the problem. Knowing that millions of people were going hungry, she knew this was something that had to be fixed. Instead of waiting for someone to come up with a solution, she did it herself. As a passionate and authentic leader, Ronni has built a dedicated team of nearly 200 staff and 2000 volunteers who reflect and share her devotion for the cause. In her own words ‘passion is contagious’.
She is constantly looking for new ways to innovate her for impact organisation, from introducing educational programs, opening Australia’s first free supermarket and piloting digital technology to connect local food donors directly with charities feeding people in need. In Australia, her quest to tackle the country’s waste problem makes her a lead spokesperson when it comes to fighting food waste and protecting the planet. Appearing regularly in national media, on expert panels and in an advisory capacity to the government, she is regularly biting on Ministerial heels to goad them into action! Ronni’s personal story never fails to inspire, move and motivate people to make a difference in their own lives.
Most notably her recent appointment as Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) and previously Boss Magazine Top 21 True Leaders, Gourmet Traveller’s Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality, Griffith University’s Doctor of the University (honoris causa) and Australian Local Hero of the Year. The enduring image of Ronni Kahn is captured in the independent documentary Food Fighter, which followed her crusade for two years as she partnered with the United Nations, introduced the food rescue model to new markets and held the government to account in Australia. It reveals her spirituality, unwavering passion and commitment to the cause and above all her motivation for effecting change – her grandchildren.
The desire for purpose and meaning is Ronni’s biggest motivation. Every day is filled with gratitude and her biggest learning is that the joy of giving is so much better than getting.