Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent, gives advice to Business School students
By Tanya Gubbay
Monday 20 June 2011
Students at Imperial College Business School recently gained an insight into the 'smart calls and screw ups' made by Richard Reed, the co-founder of Innocent, since the company's launch in May 1999.
Innocent make a range of natural smoothies, juices and veg pots. The business was set-up by Richard and two friends and it has grown in just over 10 years to a turnover of over £100m. Innocent is now Europe's biggest smoothie brand and the company has been widely recognised for its enlightened approach to business. Awards have included Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for London, Business Link for London best marketing campaign, and National Business Awards best marketing campaign.
The talk formed part of the Net Impact series, organised by the Imperial College Business School. Mark Davies, Corporate Relations Manager, was among the throng who attended and below he reports his take on the event:
A passionate advocate of entrepreneurship in the UK, Richard had some useful tips to share with budding business leaders in the audience.
Central to his advice was that you have to have a 'mission'; having a clearly articulated purpose motivates staff and drives business strategy.
A further observation that’s important to bear in mind is that while small businesses can get very big, they can also get very small again! Innocent enjoyed quick success when large supermarkets started placing orders, but a few years ago, the business was put in jeopardy as the market shrank because of the financial crisis, other big competitors launched rival products, food prices began to rise and the exchange rates became unfavourable. Richard said that in hindsight, he wishes they had sought more advice from external experts who might have seen some of those factors coming and would have known how to react more quickly.
Richard appreciates that business is all about the people you have working for you. He admits that initially they were 'too nice', but now the company does not let their ethos compromise recruitment and performance. Getting rid of people who are performing poorly is as important as bringing in the good people. Innocent engages very much with its staff and often small, low cost, gestures make a big difference.
Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent
Details can also have a big impact. He cited his fight with trading standards to replace 'use by' with 'enjoy by' on their cartons, which was all part of the image they wanted to portray.
The final piece of advice was that listening is free and creates value. Richard believes businesses should be honest and transparent with their customers. Indeed, Innocent actively encourages customers to take tours of the offices and engages them in its decision-making processes.
After the talk, questions came in thick and fast from the audience. Richard was asked how he secured funding and he explained that it had been a long and largely unsuccessful process. Having exhausted most of options available to entrepreneurs, including banks, venture capitalists and angel investor networks, the founders resorted to sending a 'spam' email to their networks asking whether anyone "knew someone rich"! Amazingly, that led to a meeting with an investor who took a gamble on them and eventually made a healthy return.
Richard emphasised Innocent’s commitment to sustainable business and sourcing ingredients ethically. Not only do they donate 10% of their profits to charity, but they also employ sustainability experts and give internal expertise and resources to charities that need them for specific projects.
Wrapping up, Richard outlined Innocent’s hopes for expanding their product range and their international reach, continuing their “nothing to something” philosophy. His funny and engaging anecdotes left the audience enthused about the potential for building sustainable successful businesses in the future.
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Students interested in getting involved in this series and/or attending future talks should contact: ania.mirkowska@imperial.ac.uk
Past speakers in the Net Impact series have included Juliet Davenport on 'Good Energy,' James Crowley on 'How Accenture has made sustainability part of its core business,' and John Drummond on 'Corporate Culture.'
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