Town & Country

4 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY MARCH 25, 2017 M O R D E N NATURAL GROWTH Working to be better led to bigger things for Pure Anada BY WENDY KING www.westernsd.mb.ca Vanderveen's Greenhouses Ltd. Box 957, Carman, Manitoba ROG OJO Telephone: (204) 745-3534 Fax: (204) 745-3920 My Co-op Stands for… Locally Invested • Community-Minded • Lifetime Membership Benefits Bell Aura Bed Breakfast and Bistro 100 Year Old Church Turned B&B Incredible Ambience - Antiques and Art Throughout 77-2nd Ave. SW, Carman 204-745-6787 www.bellaura.ca AVAILABLE FOR ALL EVENTS AND OCCASIONS! I n business, bigger might not always be better. It might not even be the goal. But for Morden's Candace Grenier, founder of Pure Anada Natural Cosmetics ... bigger just kind of "showed up." "Making my own cosmetics was a hobby, and I just took my excess products to craft sales, but then I started getting stores asking me if they could carry the product," says Grenier, 36. She suddenly found herself riding a steep learning curve, tenaciously tracking down the information she needed as her business took off. No longer a hobby, Pure Anada is now a manufacturer and a distributor of natural cosmetics. "We manufacture our own brand, Pure Anada, but we also manufacture for 30 other brands to varying degrees." Grenier doesn't have formal business training, but she does have a keen interest in what she does, confidence in her ability to find the answers she needs, and a commitment to her purpose. "With the Internet I can learn anything I need to know and I'm very motivated to figure things out as I go through this journey," she says. It can be difficult finding good quality information on formulation because it involves trade secrets and is not shared. But by sticking with it, Grenier found answers. And because it is results-based, learning formulation as you go is possible even if you don't fully understand the science. "Chemistry is almost like baking — you can bake something that turns out well, but you don't always know the science exactly and how it all works together," she says. "And I soon found out that a lot of suppliers are very willing to give you information. Let's say I want to use a particular emulsifier, which is an ingredient that holds oil and water together. I contact that manufacturer and they will share tips and pointers on what percentage to use and help you if you have issues." As for the business end of things, she loves to read books on leadership, business and marketing. Grenier isn't doing it alone. Her husband, Leigh Grenier, is by her side. Working together in the business allows them to create a family life that suits them. "We have five kids and it lets us integrate our family and our work life — it's kind of a combination of the two and we actually like it that way," she says. Adding to her family was the initial impetus for selling cosmetics. "My fundraising goal, initially, was to earn enough money to adopt our daughter Olivia and bring her from Ethiopia," she says. "It continued to grow and grow and became our family's livelihood." Family roots are one reason the Greniers keep Pure Anada in Morden. Its geographically central location, which makes importing ingredients and shipping product simple, is another. But the most important reason for staying put is that they have built up a great team. The company employs about 25 people, depending on the projects they undertake. "We value our staff members, they are our most valuable asset — and if we were to move we'd lose all of that in a huge way." That would make it difficult to meet the needs of her contract manufacturing clients. Grenier says it is interesting to note that around 95 per cent of make-up brands do not manufacture their own product, but instead have an outside lab or third party formulate and produce goods for them. "I just assumed every brand had a factory behind the scenes, but they don't," she says. The result is that half of Pure Anada's business is contract manufacturing, with significant potential for growth. "We do have some significant clients from around the world, so we're very careful that we don't take on more than we can handle," she says. "Some of our clients have prestigious organic certifications and as a result we are often audited by independent certification bodies so that we can meet the standards to produce for these clients." Grenier also wanted to have a retail outlet of her own, so a couple of years ago, Pure Anada opened a boutique in downtown Morden. "We've had overwhelming positive support — people were proud of us which makes me feel humble and warm and fuzzy," she says laughing. "We did win Business of the Year award in 2015 which was an honour." On the retail side of things, Grenier wants to keep her product in key niche retailers, including those specializing in environmental items, natural products, gifts, and other stores that, like her own boutique, are looking to carry unique and beautiful products. "We feel that these type of local boutiques are best set to represent our brand, so I don't feel that a big chain is necessarily a big win — it doesn't really fit our philosophy," she says. "We don't really have a goal to get bigger, but we do have a goal to get better — then growth happens automatically." No longer a hobby, Pure Anada is now a manufacturer and a distributor of natural cosmetics. "We manufacture our own brand, Pure Anada, but we also manufacture for 30 other brands to varying degrees." PHOTOS BY DARCY FINLEY

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