[REPLAY - from the archive] How Susie Ma Scaled Tropic Skincare With Purpose, Resilience and Profit

How Susie Ma Scaled Tropic Skincare With Purpose, Resilience and Profit

In this episode of the ScaleX™ Insider Podcast, host Brendan McGurgan sits down with Susie Ma, founder and CEO of Tropic Skincare, one of the UK's fastest-growing beauty brands and a shining example of purpose-led entrepreneurship.

From launching Tropic at age 15 to turning it into a multi-million-pound business, Susie shares the highs, lows and deep personal insights behind building a truly values-driven company — one that's scaled profitably, sustainably, and without compromising its ethical roots.

This episode is essential listening for SME business leaders who want to scale without selling out, and build businesses that are not only commercially successful, but deeply aligned with personal values, impact, and purpose.

🎯 In this episode, you'll learn:

✅ How to scale a business without compromising your values ✅ The secret to Tropic's growth: customers as co-creators ✅ Why resilience matters more than strategy in tough moments ✅ How to embed sustainability into your business model from day one ✅ What Susie learned from rejection on The Apprentice ✅ The power of radical transparency in building brand trust ✅ How Tropic made purpose its competitive advantage ✅ Susie's personal mindset tools for clarity and confidence

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Welcome & Susie's story of building Tropic 06:40 – Growing a purpose-led business from £200 10:30 – Being values-led under pressure 15:10 – When growth tests your convictions 21:45 – Empowering customers in your strategy 26:00 – What sustainable leadership looks like 33:20 – Hiring for integrity and belief 38:00 – The real costs of misalignment 43:15 – Susie's tools for staying focused 47:00 – 3 timeless takeaways for scaling with purpose

🔗 Connect with Susie Ma

🌐 Website: https://www.tropicskincare.com 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susie-ma/ 📺 The Apprentice Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQFSfwZq_ug

About Simple Scaling & ScaleX™ Insider Podcast:

ScaleX™ is a platform designed to help SME leaders scale with purpose using the proven ScaleX™ Framework. Hosted by Brendan McGurgan, the ScaleX™ Insider Podcast brings insights from world-class entrepreneurs and business thinkers.

If you're an SME leader who wants help to scale with purpose and a proven plan and framework to follow to get there, here's two ways you can work with us:

Join our Northern Ireland ScaleX Accelerator Programme in 2026! (For SME leaders generating £2m-30m annually.)

Since 2020, we've ran a 12-month group coaching programme designed for CEOs, founders and MDs of SME's who want to scale their business, their own leadership, their teams and their value proposition. In 90 days, we'll spot the bottlenecks stopping you right now and devise a plan throughout the rest of the programme on how you can achieve limitless business,

If that sounds good to you, click here to join our waitlist for 2026 - https://scalexaccelerator.simplescaling.com/

📢 Subscribe for weekly insights on how to Scale with Purpose: /@scalexinsider

#ScalingWithPurpose, #SMELeadership, #PurposeDrivenBusiness, #FounderMindset, #EthicalEntrepreneurship