Becoming a 'nimble' dancer

Mr Smith said: “I worked for Searle Pharmaceuticals, now part of the Pfizer Group, for 21 years, as medical rep and business development controller — which meant travelling around and visiting about 26 countries each year. “Then in 1997, aged 50, I took the redundancy package and decided to start up on my own account, working from my home in Hook Norton. I had a hunch that I knew one or two healthcare products that would sell well in the UK.” Now his business turns over about £2m a year, has a product range of 99 items, and seems to support the theory that cosmetic and healthcare products do comparatively well in recessions. Famously, they did so throughout the economically depressed 1930s, when people apparently were keen to look and feel good come what may (particularly, perhaps, when they went out to view that other great defier of the downturn: movies). <p>

Certainly Mr Smith is walking proof that there is life after redundancy. But getting to where he now is was not easy. He said: “The first product was the sun protection mousse. Unlike ordinary sunscreens that sit on the surface of the skin, the sun mousse rapidly absorbs into the skin's outer layer (epidermis) to provide effective protection against UVA and UVB rays. “It leaves the skin feeling soft and smooth with no sticky residue.” But in 2001 he found himself embroiled in a law suit not of his making concerning a take-over in Germany of the manufacturer of the product. “Figures were just picking up, thanks to a breakthrough story in the press about the importance of sunscreen as protection against skin cancer, when I was knocked back. It was a nightmare.” But by 2005, with that headache out of the way, Mr Smith launched his second product: ClearZal, a foot care product that helps people avoid nail infections and kills 99.9 per cent of the fungus, bacteria and viruses that cause them. The thinking behind this move was to keep focused on the “grey market”, or people over 50, since in the UK and western Europe they now form an increasingly large proportion of the population; accounting for more of us than the teen market, for instance. They also have comparatively large amounts of disposable income, having often paid off their mortgages etc., and, of course, they need various healthcare products. He said: “I identified footcare as a new opportunity for us after learning that the NHS Priorities Committees were restricting the prescriptions for medicines for nail fungal infections, which they viewed as cosmetic problems. I reckoned people would still want such products. After all, you have only got one pair of feet and healthcare is important.” And history has proved him right. But why did he choose to go into the healthcare sector in UK, dominated as it is by the NHS and by a few well known High Street shops, such as Boots and Superdrug? “It was all I really knew about,” was the simple answer. Already by 1998 Zeon had expanded enough for Mr Smith to take on sales director Ivan Lythgoe, and by the next year he was also ready to take on finance manager Hannah Armand. Next came the move to the company’s first offices at the former air base of Upper Rissington. Purely by chance, the firm has ever since been expanding into offices at or near air bases. In 2004 it moved into the Innovation Centre at Upper Heyford and earlier this year to its present spacious premises opposite the Weston on the Green RAF base. The success of the footcare venture and close cooperation with leading High Street shops led to more staff and to the move to Weston on the Green earlier this year. Sam Vaughan, centre manager at the Innovation Centre at Upper Heyford, sees the expansion of the company as exactly the kind of success that the centre is trying to help achieve. She said: “We are here to help companies grow, just as Zeon did. They moved to a large unit where they will be able to do everything in house. Here their warehousing was done elsewhere.”

Among new staff engaged in 2010 was Christian Hawkins, now brand manager. Mr Hawkins said: “Now we are developing new products. We are also developing new websites through which to sell them. So far about 90 per cent of sales are in the UK but we are beginning to develop other European markets too. Good value being the main selling point.” Among the new products coming now coming into focus is MacuShield, specially designed to stop sight deterioration in people over 50. It can be bought over the counter, or over the web, or, increasingly, on prescription. Mr Smith said: “At about 50p a day it really can slow deterioration. Uniquely it contaions meso-zeaxanthon, a carotenoid essential for older people.” He added : “We always tell customers ‘trying is believing’” And has he any regrets about taking redundancy when he did? “None. I have a sense of freedom now. Big companies are like elephants — and elephants cannot tap dance. Small companies like ours can adapt quickly to changing markets. They are nimble dancers.”