PERTH entrepreneur Peter Malone has never been one to follow a traditional path, and he has stayed true to form with his new venture.
PERTH entrepreneur Peter Malone has never been one to follow a traditional path, and he has stayed true to form with his new venture.
Known to many as the person behind one-time high-flying tech stock New Tel, Mr Malone and his business partner, Leo Fung, have developed a natural sunscreen product.
Instead of focusing on the local market first, Soleo Organics went straight to the US.
“The American market is the largest market to be in. If you want to establish the brand you have got to pitch it in to a market where it will be picked up quickly and it will start to get some volume going for you,” Mr Malone told WA Business News.
Based in California, Skin Elements USA was set up as the first distribution company and began trying to lift the profile of the product by promoting it to surfing groups in the area.
“We went in to a market segment that needed sunscreens urgently, which was the world surfing group. They had all sorts of issues, eyes getting stung, lips cracking; we got them to use our product and basically overnight the whole group was using Soleo,” Mr Malone said.
“From there, every Quicksilver board riders store in America this summer will be using Soleo as the product on the stand.”
He said the product was developed after recognition of the opportunities for an organic, truly 100 per cent natural sunscreen.
“Sunscreens really by and large dropped the zinc cream of the 1960s and went for all these high tech sunscreen formulations which were based on synthetic chemicals. What we put in our sun care is natural organic products,” Mr Malone said.
He said the product had been successful in the US, with The Washington Post, Environmental Working Group and Elle all awarding Soleo Organics as their best sunscreen.
Mr Malone hopes to launch the product in Australia and Europe in the next 12 months.
“We are looking now over this next summer to establish ourselves as the pharmacy sunscreen in Australia,” Mr Malone said.
“We now have 12 countries taking the product and we are trying to grow the product through their distribution channels.”
