Originally written by Partner Content on Small Business
Zaffrin O’Sullivan, 41, first had the idea for Five Dot Botanics back in 2017. She wondered why the packaging for skincare products listed impenetrable ingredients at a time when consumers were demanding ingredient transparency in food and cleaning products.
O’Sullivan found a cosmetic scientist and spent two years developing her products along with designing the brand and a website alongside her day job working in television. The idea was to create a range of skincare products with only five easily understandable ingredients each. Five Dot had its first manufacturing run in the spring of 2019 and launched direct to consumer last July. The brand is already stocked in health food chain Holland & Barrett.
Five Dot raised funding from start-up seed investment fund Worth Capital, managed by Amersham Investment Management, and plans to enter another fundraising round later this year.
Only this week, O’Sullivan won a place on the coveted Sephora Accelerate 2020 programme and she plans to spend time in the US and Paris developing her brand for international distribution.
O’Sullivan still runs Five Dot Botanics as a side-hustle, as she still works in TV as a lawyer. And, if that’s not enough,