CEO Pernilla Rönnberg: Taking on the Giants of an Industry
Swedish CEO Pernilla Rönnberg is using her beauty products company Estelle & Thild to help change the face of the industry. Estelle & Thild’s mission is to raise the industry’s standards around ethical sourcing, organic certification and green waste management. Margareta Barchan, founder of The Brave Leaders Project, caught up with Rönnberg in Stockholm.
Your business achieved instant success in Scandinavia when you launched in 2007, and was subsequently recognized by the international press. What inspires you now?
I like to influence the giants, the big players of the industry. If more and more small actors work together to grab a larger share of the market for sustainable beauty products, then the big companies will eventually have to open their minds.
You found the courage to stand up for your values and beliefs. What enabled you to do that?
To be alone pushing for a change in an organization is very difficult. You must have a group of people that you can trust and who want to support you. Financial gain still is a larger priority for many leaders. However, today in Sweden, an increasing amount of companies have developed a sustainability strategy. But I don’t think it is yet the same globally.
You named your brand after your young daughters, Estelle and Mathilde. What about them inspired you?
The idea to create the brand came to me when I had my children and I wanted to do something meaningful. I saw the amount of chemicals used to produce conventional beauty products, and grew painfully aware of the effect these have on our bodies and the environment. I wanted to make a difference, to do my bit to help the world become a better place. I set about developing a sustainable business to produce organic innovative skin care without compromising on luxury or results.
It takes a brave person to start a new business in a highly competitive market.
I have never thought of it as being brave — never when it came to creating sustainable products. I see it more as a duty. It was definitely a risk though to start a cosmetics company in an already saturated market with many big players. The sustainable practices we built into our operations differentiated us quickly.
What advice do you have for future leaders who may face challenges of their own?
Stand up for what you really want. It is much more rewarding for you and also for the others in the organization, if they can trust you. Leadership, after all, implies the responsibility of being fair and open.
This post was written by Jessica Newfield and Margareta Barchan. Read more inspiring stories like this one in our book, Brave Leaders: Finding The Guts To Make Meaningful & Lasting Change.