Ruth Anslow: Her journey as a good business founder
Running a good business is tough. It’s a juggling act that tests even the most experienced business owners every day. So for first-time business owners, setting up a business that stands the test of time is an almighty but not impossible task.
In part one of a two-part article, co-founder of the Club, Ruth Anslow shares her journey, obstacles and lessons learned along the way as a first-time founder.
If you aren’t familiar with our co-founders’ personal journeys before they set up the Club, they have been on very different career paths but ended up on the same page.
“Collaborate with other people. Don’t shut yourself away and try to figure it all out yourself. The magic happens when you let other people in.“
Ruth Anslow, HISBE
Ruth Anslow after completing a BSc in International Business, Ruth joined the Unilever graduate scheme and spent 15 years in FMCG, doing sales and marketing roles at Unilever and Sara Lee. Then she suddenly uncovered a deep unmet need to make a difference and changed her path. Ruth became a social entrepreneur and cofounded HISBE Food CIC with her sister, Amy. That was 12 years ago and she’s been on a mission to transform business for good ever since.
Why did you decide to start up your own business?
I experienced an inner push against my old career and a pull towards my new one. I had become disillusioned with my corporate job. The more senior I got, the more it became about delivering short term profit instead of value. Then there was another path calling me; an idea that I could use my skill, experience and passion for business to build something that would help make the world a better place.
My sister Amy was experiencing a similar shift and together we created the vision and values for our new business. We both wanted to be our own boss, do meaningful work and create something that would make a difference to people and planet.
We were bothered by the way the food industry is. Bad food has become normal and there’s so much inefficiency, exploitation and waste that it’s just not sustainable. I’d seen it first-hand in my old job, negotiating with the big supermarkets. We decided if you could reinvent the way supermarkets do business, it would transform the food industry. We didn’t know how to start our own supermarket; we just had a vision of “how it should be” and knew it had to be done!
What are the biggest challenges in doing this for the first time?
We faced the typical issues that every founder grapples with when they’re trying to bring a big ambition to life. We were just two sisters with an idea, but no direct experience in food retail or running our own business. We had to create everything from scratch, build the brand and the business plan, find the right premises and raise £220k to refit, stock and launch the shop.
The first challenge was figuring out where to start and then we just started. We moved to Brighton and started a blog. Over time we built a strong rallying cry for a different type of supermarket. We networked online and all over Brighton, attended every event and connected with the people that care about the issues like we do and wanted to help us.
The biggest challenge was winning over the naysayers who didn’t think the concept of a sociable enterprise supermarket with local, fair and sustainable values would be relevant for people living/working around London Road. But we could see that it was possible and had the insights, the data and the plan to back it up.
We started a crowdfunding campaign and raised £30k by selling money-off vouchers for a shop that didn’t exist yet! That created a customer base before we even opened and was proof that people wanted what we had to offer. We successfully leveraged that campaign to raise the rest of the money and support we needed.
How have others contributed to the development of your business at the start and now that you’re a move established business?
We made some pivotal connections at the start that made everything possible; from activists who helped inform our sourcing policies (including The Ethical Consumer, Joanna Blythman, the local Food Partnership and Soil Association) to influential mentors who gave us time and encouragement (such as Michael Norton, Gordon Roddick and Peter Tyson), and folk who helped us shape the nitty gritty (like Maurice McCartney of the Plunkett Foundation, Kate Bull of People’s Supermarket and Ross Jones of Legal & General).
There are also several key social investors who have supported HISBE from the early days and remain trusted advisors. Such as the Charities Aid Foundation, Triodos Bank, CIVA, UnLtd and Big Issue Invest. They work with us because their values and ours are aligned and because we deliver demonstrable social value as well as commercial results. We have benefitted from their money, their programmes and the talents and time of the fantastic individuals who work there.
For example, in 2012 we pitched for a £15,000 start-up award from SE Assist, a collaboration between Legal & General, CAF and the Cabinet Office. We won the money and, even more importantly, mentorship and resources from L&G and CAF. It created a lasting relationship with CAF, who have supported us throughout our journey and most recently helped us through tough times during the Covid pandemic.
How has this impacted you personally as a first time good business owner?
It kept me going and it still does. To know that you have people who are on your side, who believe in you and will back you is everything. It gives you the energy you need to carry you through.
Us founders are a strange breed. We do what others will not do, because we’re in love with a vision or a goal. We will work and sacrifice and keep going way beyond what other people will do. We need to be endlessly persistent, resourceful and optimistic in the face of a tough and trying world, because the odds are against small businesses thriving. And we all need help, advice and kind words to keep doing it.
HISBE is built off the back of many people who generously gave us their time, support, money and encouragement and those people mean a great deal to me, personally.
What would you suggest to other good business owners going about this on their own?
Start before you’re ready. Share your vision far and wide. And, most importantly, collaborate with other people. Don’t shut yourself away and try to figure it all out yourself. The magic happens when you let other people in.
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