The Skin Nerd founder Jennifer Rock on how Going for Growth challenges the status quo.
Going for Growth, a programme jointly run by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG, assists ambitious women entrepreneurs to achieve their growth ambitions.
So far more than 850 Irish women entrepreneurs have participated in the award-winning programme, including Áine Kerr of Kinzen. The 14th cycle of Going for Growth reported significant results for its 57 participants. Combined turnover increased from €35m at the start of the cycle to €43m by the end, a 23% increase in just six months.
“I’m a firm believer in constant action towards forging platforms for women in business, like Going for Growth has done. For me, this entire programme offers stability, structure and suggestions”
Going for Growth is now inviting ambitious women entrepreneurs to take part in its 15th cycle with the deadline for applications set for Friday 18 November.
The Skin Nerd
Jennifer Rock is an award-winning skin tutor, dermal facialist and bestselling author and the CEO and founder of the multi-award winning Skingredients skincare range, The Skin Nerd educational skin platform, Skin Nerd Network and the Cleanse Off Mitt, a reusable cleansing tool.
After becoming a facialist and working in the industry, Jennifer’s own desire to learn motivated her to empower others via education.
She began teaching her clients the simplicity of active skincare on seeing there was a demand for this from market research and her own social media audience. Jennifer says that this inspired her “to create the Skin Nerd Network which has 50,000 clients who are offered unbiased product recommendations during our consultations.”
Skingredients is a results-driven, active skincare range developed by Jennifer with the key demographic being humans aged 30-40, who seek education and simplified skincare. This consumer is committed to skincare but not always confident about the ingredients to use to reach their skin goals. “This is where we step in!” says Jennifer.
The Skin Nerd is an educational skincare hub and was the first of its kind, designed to provide specialist skin advice and a personalised skincare routine to humans worldwide. “Our goal is to provide education on how to care for skin, with the aim of empowering humans and help them to achieve Skintentment.”
The Skin Nerd Network is an online skin consultation membership programme with a skincare store, which stocks an extensive number of brands that mirror the company’s skin philosophy.
Jennifer is very clear about how Starting Strong, Going for Growth and Continuing the Momentum helped her build her business.
“My lead entrepreneurs were Susan Spence in Starting Strong, Monica Flood in Going for Growth and Breege O’Donoghue for Continuing Momentum. Each stage resembled the period my business was in at that stage.
“I’m a firm believer in constant action towards forging platforms for women in business, like Going for Growth has done. For me, this entire programme offers stability, structure and suggestions. It challenges the status quo but the joy and growth mainly come from the fact you are immersed in a room, (virtual or physical) with women that you respect, admire and trust, that are keen to give back and offer insights candidly and filter-free with a view to us learning and excelling in our relevant sectors. It is inspiring and infectious, well organised and motivating.”
As to the future, The Skin Nerd will be launching a new-look website with its consumer in mind, maximising the ease of navigation and using colour psychology to ensure that the aesthetics are as appealing as possible. The product offering is also being expanded by venturing into new beauty, hair and wellness categories. Linking up with experts in these areas, this move aligns with our core philosophy of bringing education to the masses, as not only will we be bringing fantastic new products into our realm, but also real advice and education for our customers.”
Skingredients has won multiple awards across its product range and Jennifer won an award at the IMAGE Business of Beauty Awards in 2018.
The call is open for applications from female entrepreneurs who would welcome peer support to take their businesses to the next level by taking part in the Going for Growth programme. This is the 15th year of Going for Growth and more than 850 female entrepreneurs have so far taken part in the programme. Sixty places will be available for the 15th cycle of Going for Growth, which will run from January to June 2021 and the deadline for applications is Friday 18 November 2022. There is no charge for those selected.
Anyone interested is encouraged to register on the website goingforgrowth.com
