New Brunswick Small Business Spotlight: Sussex Beard Oil Merchants
Sussex Beard Oil Merchants is a small business located in Sussex founded by entrepreneur and beard enthusiast Matt White. The company produces a variety of all-natural men’s grooming products including soaps, conditioners, brushes, shaving balms, moustache wax, and its signature beard oil.
When Opportunities NB (ONB) first met with Matt White he was passionate about both his business and the entrepreneurial spirit he saw in New Brunswick. The product was strong and White was keen to begin exporting beyond the region; what he lacked was confidence in his own business acumen.
With business counselling from ONB, Sussex Beard Oil Merchants was—within its first 18 months of operation—able to:
- Hire a financial management consultant—referred by ONB from its list of qualified organizations—to assist the company with inventory management
- Retain the services of an accountant
- Connect—again via an ONB-qualified referral—with LearnSphere, a New Brunswick-based training and learning solutions provider. LearnSphere offered White additional export development support, and has worked with him to launch a newly-revamped version of SussexBeard.ca in order to prepare for increased export activity.
With strong encouragement from ONB, White and Sussex Beard Oil entered the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s (NBIF) Breakthru competition. That program offered access to a Business Boot Camp where he would learn more about creating a formal business plan and bringing his products to export markets. This proved to be a crucial step for the company on two levels. Not only was White able to complete a finished business plan but that missing ingredient—confidence—finally materialized.
White next appeared on CBC’s Dragons’ Den where two of the shows “Dragons”, Michael Wekerle and Michele Romanow, agreed to an investment of $65,000 for 30 per cent of his company.
He has since become part of the Sussex Economic Development Steering Committee and is now a committee member for Startup Sussex, one of the newly-launched Startup Communities in the province. The startup community program has been led by ONB and the team at Startup Canada.
“My experience with ONB has totally changed my idea of what it would be like to work with the public and non-profit sectors. You walk in thinking these folks will make it all happen for you, but you find out that no, YOU have to make it happen; it’s your idea. But they will provide essential networking, support, encouragement, and advice to help you along the way. ONB truly wanted me to be successful and have really supported me every step of the way,” says Matt White, the founder of Sussex Beard Oil Merchants.