My First Million: Joanna Jensen, founder of Childs Farm

Joanna Jensen, 52, created family skincare brand Childs Farm in 2011, while trying to soothe her daughters’ skin problems. Using credit cards and starting out from her Hampshire farmhouse, she used her experience to set up and build a successful business in the baby and child skincare market. Turnover went from £305,000 in 2011 to £17mn in 2021. Today, the Basingstoke-based company employs 35 staff. 

The company’s branded baby moisturiser — one of its key products — took off in 2016 when a social media post featuring a child’s mother talking about its fast-acting effects went viral, and again in 2017, by which time a bottle was being sold every 20 seconds in the UK.

The entrepreneur, who has survived divorce, major abdominal surgery and cervical cancer, sold just shy of 92 per cent of Childs Farm in March 2022 to consumer goods group PZ Cussons for £36.8mn. She retains a stake of just over 8 per cent and continues to work at the company as brand ambassador.

Did you think you would get to where you are?
At school I thought I would become an actress. I loved singing and musical theatre, but my mother considered a stage career risky. With hindsight I am not surprised at where I am now — I was a precocious, determined and conscientious child. I wasn’t afraid of running a business when I set up my interior design venture at 21. 

After I had Bella [who suffered from eczema], I saw there were no natural products for sensitive skin. I had always been interested in skincare and conscious of which natural origin ingredients were suitable for young skin. I did my research, literally at the kitchen table. I read enormous amounts of background material on ingredients and experimented myself, creating creams and lotions.

Was your first £1mn a major milestone?
It happened in 2018, but I didn’t realise until I saw the year-end accounts in November. It was all a bit of a blur and we did not celebrate. We were so caught up in the pandemonium surrounding a social media post going viral that everyone was working flat out. Every moment was spent trying to source bottles, pumps and labels at breakneck speed, because we had to manage stratospheric demand, a 145 per cent increase.

Which was the greater challenge, Brexit, or the pandemic?
I can honestly say that Covid affected us much more than Brexit. Apart from Ireland, our international distribution was outside the eurozone, mainly to Australia and the Middle East.

We made sure that Ireland ordered stock well before Brexit. If you have food with a sell-by-date within three days, Brexit has been painful for getting your products into Ireland. We have much more time. With cosmetics the shelf life is 36 months.

The pandemic hit our four UK manufacturing sites because we were a priority business, supplying babies. When the factory staff got ill with Covid, whole production lines were shut down.

The manufacturer had to factor in delays due to lack of staff, so lead times went from six to 16 weeks. We faced enormous challenges with our supply chain. Sometimes you had stock and sometimes your stock production was let down at the last minute. Nothing ran smoothly. These were two exhausting years. Whenever you put the lid on something another lid came off, like a key ingredient not being available. Financially, we did well. Turnover in 2018 was £14mn. In 2020 it was £19.2mn.

How have you coped with soaring energy costs?
When Russia invaded Ukraine, our energy and logistics costs went up dramatically. We had managed previous price rises throughout Covid, but this really eroded our margins. In February 2022 we had to increase our recommended retail price from £4 to £4.50 across the range for a 250ml bottle.

Was it a problem recruiting staff before the sale?
It is always difficult in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) because it is a different way of working, plus we are in Basingstoke. Though many candidates wanted to work from home, I think when you join an SME you need to be around the other people you are working with for the best results. It was hardest to recruit marketing staff because they largely wanted to be based in London. Perhaps post-Covid some of the hunger and commitment to do well has gone, as there are so many job vacancies.

What did you have to sacrifice to start the business?
The biggest sacrifice was losing time with my children, who were two and four years old. I had to spend most of my disposable income on childcare while I researched the baby and child personal care market. I was also running the farmhouse as a bed-and-breakfast and renting out a big barn as a wedding venue. Until last year I had been working at a very intense level since I was 40.

What was your best preparation for business?
It was watching and learning from my grandparents, who ran a hugely successful antiques business in Hampshire. They lived and breathed it. They were Regency specialists and sold furniture to America. The shop, next to their house, was always open, and a hive of activity. I loved to go there throughout my teens. I would often talk to the restorer on site and go with my grandparents to auctions.

What is your basic business philosophy?
First, turnover, turnover, turnover. If you don’t have turnover, you have no business. Second, know your consumer. You have to know that what you are creating is what they want. You need to think like your consumer and be your consumer to understand them. This was not difficult for me, as I had two little ones with irritated skin.

What was the toughest period of your career?
I would say 2014, when I lost my home through divorce, and I lost a venture capital investor four days before they were due to sign. This meant I missed out on £3mn of growth capital. A few months later I had major abdominal surgery to remove a 2kg tumour. Though in great pain, I had to carry on. I remember creating shareholders’ agreements from my hospital bed.

Do you believe in leaving everything to your family?
I believe everyone should make their own way in life, otherwise you don’t know the value of money or the value of effort. I feel strongly about funding further education because I don’t want my children to start their careers with debt. I wrote my first will when I was 19 . . . and another after my divorce.

Do you want to carry on till you drop?
No. When I sold to PZ Cussons in March 2022, I agreed I would retain a small stake in the business until June 2025, when I will be 55. Though I am committed to Childs Farm, I shall work out what I want to do over the next two years. It will certainly include non-executive director roles, supporting female-founded businesses at the early to medium stages.

I was looking for private equity investment to expand the business. When PZ Cussons expressed an interest to buy, it made an awful lot of sense. At the time I sold I had 25 shareholders, two of them significant, but I had the largest single shareholding. The sale has left me in a position where the chronic financial worry of the past 12 years is over.

Cussons is focused on expanding Childs Farm internationally, targeting growth in Ireland, Austria via drug retailer BEPA, and the US via ecommerce from May.

Have you made any pension provision?
Absolutely I have. I was an early adopter of paying into a private pension, at 21, and I did it throughout my career. As a director of the business, I am glad I contributed so much, because it allowed me to lend the business 50 per cent of my fund when I needed capital.

This was through a Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS), a type of pension available for limited companies or partnerships. As a company director you have full discretion on how you invest your personal pension fund, either in your own business or commercial property. I don’t think a lot of people are aware of this.

My lifetime pension allowance, at just over £1mn, was maximised by 2021.

Do you believe in giving something back to the community?
I have always worked closely with the Riding for the Disabled Association, and in 2019 Childs Farm gave a substantial amount of money towards building their new head office in Worcestershire. I also support Paralympics GB, and own half a paralympics dressage horse with the rider Natasha Baker OBE. I have always adored horses and riding. I first sat in the saddle as a toddler as my mother was a show judge.