Founded in 2007, Good Ventures create organic, vegan, cruelty-free and natural personal care products. Their products are designed and manufactured by hand in their Hertfordshire studio.
Good Ventures Limited have created two main skincare ranges skincare brands: Evolve Beauty and Adaptology, which are sold worldwide. Evolve Beauty is an artisanal range of handmade organic beauty products. Evolve Beauty is a range of artisanally made, award winning beauty products made from the finest, most effective natural and organic food-based ingredients. The Adaptology range has powerful plant extracts sourced from plants which grow in extreme territorial conditions. Adaptology is an effective new natural beauty brand that solves skin problems and their origins by using clinically proven adaptogens, nature’s most powerful and effective ingredients.
In 2014 the business took on its first employee and turned over £140,000.00. They now employ 70 staff with a turnover of £5 million and continue to expand. Much of the growth has been attributed to consumers seeking more sustainable choices, as well as spending more time and money on self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of their key company challenges included capacity, which is where the Manufacturing Growth Programme was able to assist by providing funding towards the cost of a filling machine. MGP also helped to prepare the business to achieve ISO 9001 quality management and ISO 22716 cosmetic standard accreditations, which are necessary to safely manufacture, package, test, store, and transport cosmetic products.
Their most recent project with MGP helped Good Ventures to work towards understanding and reducing their carbon footprint. MGP part-funded the cost of a consultancy project to investigate the environmental impact of their ingredient sourcing and production processes, and to measure their carbon footprint accurately. 
Understanding the full extent of their footprint was complicated as they source special ingredients from many places around the world, and the impact of an ingredient’s production method and transport was hard to gauge. Laura Rudoe, Managing Director for Good Ventures stated, “Our mission as a business is to become regenerative. Regenerative means our impact is not zero, it is actually positive, restorative for the planet and restorative for body and mind. We are looking for ways we can help to restore the natural world and put back more than we take out”.
The result of the project culminated in Good Ventures publishing a Sustainability report which showcases their transparent supply chain and independent carbon footprint measurement. This enables their customers to compare the company’s environmental performance against other producers that may have made “greenwashed” claims.
Greenwashing is problematic in the cosmetic sector. Many companies specify that they use ‘organic ingredients’ when advertising a product, when in fact a very small percentage of the ingredients are organic. Good Ventures wants to shine a light on all 180 ingredients they use from their supply chain to ensure that there are no unethical practices.
Amanda Freeland, Manufacturing Growth Manager for MGP stated, “The company has been a real success story and is continuing to grow despite a lot of market competition, because of their product quality, customer service, and ethos. Consumer interest in sustainability is growing at a fast rate and Laura Rudoe is leading the way in making exciting new and sustainable skincare products.”
When asked “What advice would you give to an SME thinking of using MGP?”, Laura Rudoe answered, “It’s been brilliant, and Amanda made it so accessible; I’m very busy and it needed to be easy to apply for, which it certainly is. There really are no downsides; it will help you to grow your business. I’d also say, the grant money is only available until March 2023, so don’t delay.”
The business now has a turnover of over £5,000,000.00 and the Evolve products are sold in John Lewis and in 100 Holland and Barrett stores. Future goals for the business include doubling their revenue in 3-5 years and growing the Adaptology product range.
For more information on Good Ventures Limited visit https://www.goodventures.co.uk/
Read Good Venture’s sustainability report here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1089/4204/files/Impact_report_2021_1.pdf?v=1643799807