In 2004, a 15-year-old Susie Ma showed up to London’s Greenwich Market on a rainy morning with nothing but a positive attitude and 50 jars of home-made body scrubs with DIY labels displaying her brand name: Tropic Skincare.
While her first day of sales did not go as planned, within two years the young entrepreneur had saved enough money for a house deposit and took a step back to get a degree and start a high-pressure, high-pay career in finance – only to leave it behind and take a leap of faith with Tropic.
Now, just 22 years later, Ma is entering the BBC’s Dragons’ Den tonight, 12 February, as one of the UK’s leading business owners ready to invest in budding entrepreneurs – but how did she land here?
Cosmetics Business sat down with the founder at her HQ in Surrey, UK, to uncover Ma’s road to riches.
From humble beginnings to a high-power leader
Tropic’s turning point did not come from a boardroom strategy session – it came from prime time television.
After briefly stepping away from the business to enter a career in finance, Ma found herself at a crossroads.
It was at this time that a friend shared the link to apply for a television show, The Apprentice, just as the show's premise shifted from a job offer to a £250,000 investment into your business from UK business magnate Lord Alan Sugar.
“I had never even watched the show before,” says Ma.
“I was like, ‘why not?’ thinking I [would] not get it.”
She did.
Out of tens of thousands of applicants, Ma made it onto the show at just 21, entering into what she called a “complete pressure cooker environment” that was far more intense than is presented on screen.
Although Ma was ultimately fired during the final, the exposure from her time on the show reignited Tropic as viewers searched for her during the finale and discovered the brand’s website.
Sales spiked almost immediately, as Ma remembers: “I made around £10,000 in 30 minutes – it was insane.
“And then my website crashed.”
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