How a 15-year-old's kitchen recipe became a £90 million skincare empire
In short: In 2004, Susie Ma was selling homemade body scrubs in London markets to help her mother pay bills. Decades later, her company, Tropic Skincare, has become one of the UK's fastest-growing brands, driven by a massive network of ambassadors and a unique path to full ownership.
Her first products consisted of lemon myrtle essential oils, macadamia oils, and sea salts, distributed inside jam jars. Using a recipe learned from her grandmother, Ma started her business at just fifteen years old. After moving from Shanghai to Australia and eventually settling in London in 2002, she balanced her early entrepreneurial efforts with studies in philosophy and economics at University College London.
Ma's rise gained significant public attention during the 2011 series of the BBC's The Apprentice. Although she finished in third place, she achieved a rare feat: securing investment from Lord Alan Sugar. In 2012, Sugar invested £200,000 for a 50% stake in the company. This partnership helped fuel a direct-selling model that, as of 2025, includes over 38,000 ambassadors in the UK.
A pivotal moment occurred in April 2023, when Ma achieved her long-held ambition of reclaiming full ownership of Tropic by buying back Lord Sugar's shares. The business has seen remarkable financial growth; by 202'4, Tropic reported a turnover exceeding £68 million with profits of £8.7 million. The company's scale is evident in its Surrey headquarters, which employs over 300 people and operates out of a 48,000 sq. ft. premises.
Beyond commerce, Ma has integrated philanthropy into the brand's 'Infinite Purpose.' Tropic commits 10% of profits to good causes, having funded millions of days of education for children through partnerships with charities like UWS. The company's impact extends to environmental and social initiatives, including supporting coral nurseries in the Great Barrier Reef and providing training for ambassadors to detect early signs of skin cancer.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Susie Ma
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