18 INTERVIEW


years, and I must have been quite successful, because in 2012 I was offered a position on the executive committee. I’ve sat on the committee for 13 years. I’ve run each of our businesses, each of our sectors and all the geographies. While I’ve spent 35 years with


one company, I’ve had 20-plus jobs in different places!


TP: You must have seen so much change over the past 35 years. What strikes you as most different from when you joined Croda as a trainee in 1990? SB: The thing that’s changed the most, at Croda and in the wider personal care industry, is the speed.


When I first started in sales, we


sent faxes and telexes. If we were quoting for business in Japan, it would be letters going backwards and forwards. It would take weeks and weeks to conclude an agreement. It all had to be done in the right sequence. Everything now is about speed,


whether it’s speed of response, speed to market, and also the speed where brands can have meteoric success and then often meteoric failure. There’s a lot less stability in the world, and it’s much harder to predict. You have to get used to living in a world of change. Another thing that’s changed is the educational awareness of


beauty consumers. If we go back 35 years, it was very much about the packaging. Today’s consumers understand


ingredients. They have driven a lot of the regulation. They understand impurities and how to make skin care safer. That’s been a really important driver for innovation in the industry. On top of that, the barriers


to entry in the beauty industry have changed dramatically. The


ability of very small companies to develop a brand and sell their products using social media and online marketplaces has challenged the dominance of the big multinational players. Some of them are struggling to find their new position. And then we’ve got the


emerging Asian markets, which are no longer emerging, but very much emerged, particularly China and Korea. The dynamics are


changing in terms of where beauty is integrated. There has been huge change in the past 35 years.


TP: What is your view on what the personal care/beauty industry gets right? And perhaps not so right? SB: One of the things the industry does really well is innovation. As an industry, it’s very creative, it’s very good at adapting to new trends, creating new trends, creating new niches, new markets. It’s good at making life easier


for consumers: hair conditioning, anti-ageing products, sun protection, keeping people safe. The industry helps to improve people’s wellbeing and their sense of self-esteem. It’s also an industry that’s


done great things for women in business. There’s lots and lots of women in the industry, and many women have set up their own brands.


Croda’s first order – three barrels of lanolin – left Rawcliffe Bridge factory by horse and cart to Rawcliffe station. Pictured is Mr J Stones, whose father transported the barrels in October 1925


PERSONAL CARE August 2025


TP: And the things the industry doesn’t do so well? SB: Speaking about the beauty industry as a whole, there’s more we could do to drive and change consumer behaviour from a sustainability angle. We still hang on too much to the niceness of packaging instead of thinking about how we can leverage innovation in the industry to drive change that would help protect the planet.


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