BEYOND PAPER, SPILLOVER AS A VEGAN SOAP MAKER Sustainability is the cornerstone of Botanical PaperWorks. When the global pandemic happened, Heidi decided to look beyond her status quo. “At the start of Covid, I found myself thinking of ways to extend our support to customers beyond paper. We turned our product development attention to soap because it was a great fit with Covid times and all the hand washing we were all doing,” said Heidi. She expressed that she loved the multi-sensory aspect of soap with the beautiful lather and scent. “And handmade vegan soap has many similarities to seed paper—it’s handcrafted, it’s appreciated by people who care about themselves and the environment, and it uses infrastructure that we already have in a place like our light manufacturing facility and skilled team. We use natural ingredients so that, like seed paper, you can feel good about its impact on the environment.” As she looks ahead to 2023 and beyond, the company will add more natural products that touch the senses and contribute to sustainability and the circular economy. They recently added a line of beautiful handmade paper (with no seeds) and have other non- seeded products in their development pipeline as well. Joyfully, Heidi explained, “I’m really excited about what’s coming in 2023!”
HEIDI’S ADVICE ON WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Botanical PaperWorks is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada), Canada’s largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women. When asked to share her wisdom in her experience from over 30 years in the manufacturing industry, she noticed that many women entrepreneurs need to have total proof of concept before they launch a new product or service, whereas many male entrepreneurs will go ahead with launch and figure it out as they go. While there’s a balance to be achieved with enough prelaunch due diligence and post-launch iteration, waiting until something is perfect is a huge barrier to business success. Nothing is ever perfect, and the pursuit of perfection is a roadblock to business and personal growth. As women in business, we need to be bold and put our ideas, products, and services out there as quickly as possible, so that customer feedback comes quickly to drive continuous improvement. “Along these same lines, I encourage women business leaders to join co-ed business organizations. Many women-centric organizations are doing good work, but in my experience, I grew up in my leadership when I was immersed in the Entrepreneurs Organization.” She observes that the diversity of leadership styles from both women and men was an education for which she will forever be grateful. Another insight as an experienced female entrepreneur is seeing so many entrepreneurs fail when they run out of cash to grow or encounter an unexpected bump in the road and don’t have a cash buffer. She advises women to learn everything about strong financial management. She spoke about the need for hiring a team of accountants, bookkeepers, and advisors who will keep entrepreneurs laser-focused on building a strong financial foundation with strong financial processes. “If you are a woman who grew up with a fear of money, do what you need to do to conquer that fear. Early on, to increase my knowledge and comfort and get over my money hangups, I hired my accountant to give me a couple of lessons on financial ratios where I could ask her anything that I wanted within a private, no-wrong-question environment.” Looking back, she is glad she did that because it was a big leap forward in her business capability to expand. Besides financial sense, she also mentioned that becoming a woman entrepreneur requires getting mentally strong and becoming a life learner, which she also mentioned in her interview with UM Today Alumni.
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