Being acclaimed as the fastest-growing British skincare brand for five years running is some achievement, Tropic Skincare has been included in Forbes 300 members.
I began with one goal: to help my mum pay the bills! “As a fifteen-year-old, inspired by my grandma’s homemade body scrub recipe, I recreated her exotic blend at our kitchen table in Croydon in south London and sold them in jam jars in London’s Greenwich market every weekend. My Mum also had a stall there selling scarves and wooden wind spirals. Say Shanghai-born founder and chief Tropic Ambassador, Susie Ma; “Grandma was a medicinal chemist and toxicologist. We used her bespoke scrub to soothe mozzie bites. It was a blend of fresh sea salts, macadamia, jojoba oil, and lemon myrtle. I added bergamot and eucalyptus. It has gone global!”
Growing up in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, the whole of Susie Ma’s incredibly successful premium self-care portfolio is built around tropical ingredients. Virtually the whole botanical alphabet is represented in her soothing, plant-based balms, cruelty-free body polishes, and healing lotions.
Starting with Amazonian Dragon’s Blood Extract, avocado milk, Aspen bark extract, banana flower, blue spirulina, bisabolol (from chamomile), banana flower, bamboo charcoal, baobab oil, babassu, Brazilian electric daisy, cupuacu, emu apple and illipe butter cold-pressed from the nuts of the Bornean Shorea Stenoptera tree thru kangaroo paw flower and kadhai oil to rarabe butter, resurrection flower, shala tree resin, willow bark, and white tea. With Madagascan leaf of life, monoi, and murumuru butter in the middle. Lord Sugar invested in Ma’s dream after firing her on the UK’s The Apprentice in 2011. She was the youngest candidate to ever appear on the show.
The young entrepreneur studied Philosophy and economics at University College London and worked with Citigroup trading foreign exchange. In 2013, she offered the opportunity to become a Tropic ambassador to 400 customers and traveled the UK teaching women how to demonstrate her products.
“Our ambassadors make money by getting friends together. We also have Tropic hostesses incentivized to host pamper parties.”
Susie now employs 450 members of staff and has 20,000 ambassadors. What started in a jam-jar has turned into a multi-dollar business that now offers vegan make-up and hair care products to its other popular ultra-energizing formulations, potent brighteners, and ultra-reparative replenishers
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Tropic best sellers include Skin Dream firming night cream, Skin Feast nourishing essence, Skin Re-leaf containing chamomile, oats, tamaku oil, and tiger grass, Juicy Greens exfoliating essence, and Rainforest Dew hydration serum, unique formula with multi-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid for intense daily hydration. The men’s range includes water-activated Clear Slate Deep Cleansing Powder.
Continues Suzie: “Nothing much has changed really. We are still dedicated to what I can our Infinite Purpose. To create a healthier, greener, more empowered world.
“We donate 10% of all profits to charities and good causes because we believe in doing good beyond beauty. This includes building three schools and funding six million school days for children in remote parts of the world, as well as funding two food banks for an entire year through The Trussel Trust. In the Hampshire South Downs in south England Tropic has a forest of 7000 climate-resilient trees and in the Great Barrier Reef we are building a coral nursery. The best thing about our purpose being infinite is that it never ends, we are always striving to do more! Both for the world and people’s skin.
