Big Ideas: “Why you should be driven by more than business opportunity; have a mission.” — Tara Chandra

Tara Chandra is a young female entrepreneur living and working in London. Her start-up ‘FLO’ is London’s first line of socially-conscious, organic and affordable tampons.The company has been founded with environmental and social responsibility at its core, FLO’s products are entirely organic — 100% natural cotton, no dyes, no chemicals or toxins and are biodegradable — unlike mainstream tampon brands. Furthermore, organic tampons have a 0% rate of causing Toxic Shock Syndrome, providing a safer product for women to use. I find out more.

Thanks for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

I grew up in Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area and went to Columbia University in New York City, where I studied economics and music. I worked on Wall Street in finance for a hot minute; but, because I graduated early and felt I had some ‘extra’ time to take risks with, I ended up working in the music industry in LA. A friend from high school had an e-commerce start-up funded by Mark Cuban and needed some copywriting help, so on the side of music, I would write copy for brands like Ray-Ban and Bonobos; it was my first lesson in branding.

Work had me travelling a lot, and I fell in love with London and its creative scene. I also wanted to learn more about business because working in the music industry revealed some pretty…interesting…economic systems. So I attended the London School of Economics’ Executive Global Master’s in Management MSc programme. It was there I met my co-founder, Susan, had the idea for my own start-up venture, FLO, and used it for my master’s dissertation. I was awarded the C200 Scholar Award, in part, due to the idea for FLO. After graduating in 2015, I worked for a restaurant industry app in sales and marketing — it was a proper start-up, and I learned a ton. I then left to start FLO, although I worked as a barista on weekends until things really got off the ground. My co-founder and I launched the company in 2017.

What inspired you to become an entrepreneur? How did you come up with the idea for FLO?

The idea of FLO itself was the inspiration to become an entrepreneur. I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur or ‘businesswoman’, nor was I on the hunt for a good business idea. It was as simple as, ‘this product should exist, let me see if other people agree and, if they do, I think I can do it well.’

Susan and I were in the LSE bathrooms chatting between classes, joking that since Stanford Business School had the ‘PayPal Mafia’ of unicorn start-ups, we should lead the LSE Mafia by starting a business. We were both interested in the health/wellness sphere, with strong appreciations for good design, but we also believed in giving back to people and the planet.

Probably because we were in the bathroom, I suddenly said, ‘Hey, what about organic tampons? I used them in LA but can’t find them here.’ Susan had never heard of organic femcare and was horrified to find out what the major brands were using for materials and processing. We got excited about the idea, and I used the product, consumer and market research for FLO as my master’s dissertation.

Tell me more about the company.

We got FLO off the ground in 2017 after a successful Kickstarter campaign, where people pre-ordered the product and thereby funded its creation. Our first product, organic applicator tampons packaged in a biodegradable ice cream tub, landed on shelves in August 2017. We started in 35 local mom-and-pop shops (largely in our home neighbourhoods of Hackney and Islington) and quickly expanded to UK organic chains like Better Food and Planet Organic.

2018 was a brilliant growth year from us, in which we expanded our product line to four products (including Bamboo Pads) and grew to supplying around 200 retailers, gyms, offices and coworking spaces like WeWork. We’re now also with national retailers like WH Smith Travel, Ocado, Whole Foods and, from June, Boots. We’re also exporting to the EU, USA and Egypt.

The FLO team is still primarily Susan and me, with a few long-term contract roles we’re glad to have onboard. We’ve got new products in development coming out later this year, which we’re really excited about!

FLO seems to have a very strong commitment to social responsibility, why was this important to you in setting up your company?

Susan and I share the value of service; that is, the purpose of life is to give back to others and generally do your part to make the world a better place.

We believe that every business, like every individual, has the ability to make a positive impact, both directly such as through offering biodegradable alternatives to traditionally 95% plastic sanitary pads, or donating your products to people in need, and indirectly, for example, through profit donation to charitable partners or by reducing stigma through starting conversations about ‘taboo’ subjects. A major motivation in creating FLO was the opportunity to make both direct and indirect positive impacts.

FLO supports vulnerable people in need through our profit and product donations, and sadly the most vulnerable people in the world are often women of colour. Susan and I are both women of colour who understand and are grateful for our social and educational privilege. People we love, as well as our family members and ancestors, weren’t given this privilege, and we want to make the most of it by giving back.

Tell me more about the charities you work with.

On the product donation side, we are proud to work with organisations fighting period poverty, like Bloody Good Period and Red Box Project. Bloody Good Period provides menstrual and personal care products at asylum & refugee centres, as well as food banks and homeless shelters. Red Box Project provides free period products at schools to make sure that no child misses school because they can’t afford menstrual products. We also donate to many charities that reach out to us asking for support.

On the profit donation side, our primary charitable partner is Orchid Project. They do brilliant work to end female genital cutting (FGC, also known as FGM) by working to change things on a policy level all over the world, as well as working with survivors.

What was the process like setting up a venture as a first-time entrepreneur? Has it been easy so far?

It was easy in the beginning… until you realise you missed things here and there, and you of course correct! Being able to afford a good accountant and a good lawyer makes things a lot easier. In the beginning, we definitely couldn’t, so there was a lot of Googling and finger-crossing. Now we have some help, and it’s brilliant! But there’s always something to learn.

What are your top 3 tips to stay motivated when building a start-up?

1) Be driven by more than the business opportunity: have a mission. Sure, having a purpose-driven business is trendy these days, but that doesn’t make it less important. It’ll keep you going when things get tough (and obviously, they will). Plus, consumers really expect it these days: research shows the overwhelming majority of us expect companies to have a positive impact. You don’t have to change the world, but you do need to change a world — the world of laundry detergent, of fashion, of youth in Tottenham, of expense tracking apps, of femcare. Otherwise, why bother? There are a lot of ways to make money, and launching a start-up is rarely the easiest!

2) Keep the vision in mind. Think about your company’s mission and ethos, but also the big picture business goals. Visualise it, discuss it with your co-founder or team, write it all down and revisit it each month to keep it fresh.

3) Do something else, every now and then. Join a boxing team, bake scones, read graphic novels, meditate, just get out of your own head for a while. You’ll be better at other parts of your life as a result, you may make some valuable new connections and creativity often flows better when you’ve focused elsewhere for a bit.

How has the business grown since its launch?

We’ve expanded our product line from just Applicator Tampons to also including Non-Applicator Tampons, Bamboo Pads and Bamboo Liners, and we have several more products coming this year. We also now have a direct-to-consumer subscription service through our website, and that’s grown quite a bit since launching in August 2018. Finally, our retailer presence has increased a lot: our first national UK retailer was WH Smith Travel, followed by Ocado, Whole Foods and, in June, Boots, and we’re now regularly exporting to the EU.

What do you know now that you wish you had known when you first started your business?

The challenge and discovery process is a crucial part to becoming a good leader, so I honestly wouldn’t change much. It would have been nice, though, to know all the little costs that pop up in the process of supplying retailers and can affect margins. That’s one lesson I wouldn’t have minded learning the easy way!

Can you attribute your success to any role models or mentors who have inspired or guided you along the way? If so, who are they?

Susan and I are lucky to have a mentor in the shape of someone our own age with a lovely and successful organic tea company. Her business is two years older than ours and had worked with many of the same distributor and retailer partners, plus she’s just really clever, good at accounts and overall a kind person. She helped me in the very beginning with small things like barcoding protocols and calmed me down when we had our first manufacturing delay, but she’s also part of the FLO brain trust that we include when strategizing and thinking big picture. We definitely consult with her on all our big FLO decisions and value her input.

What has been the highlight of your journey with FLO so far?

There are the big things like launching with new retailers…that’s always amazing, seeing your products on the shelves of the stores you shop in! But honestly, it’s getting Instagram comments or emails from customers who have tried and love FLO and are just letting us know, especially if they have had health issues and, in FLO, are finally finding a product that works for their body. It’s the perfect reminder of why we’re doing this.

What does the future hold for FLO?

We are really looking forward to expanding our retail presence in the UK and greater EU! Organic and natural personal care products are becoming mainstream and landing in our supermarkets and chemists, and it’s a brilliant opportunity to bring FLO to more and more people. We hope FLO will be where people turn to get healthier, eco-friendlier and ‘adorabler’ personal care products in the future.

Thanks so much!