The moneymen call her a fool, yet Laura Tenison has proven them wrong time and again. Here, the founder of baby wear brand JoJo Maman Bébé explains why her ethics, integrity and ethos beats making millions every time.
‘Fool’ is not a word you would use to describe Laura Tenison. And yet the founder and CEO of baby wear brand JoJo Maman Bébé has had it thrown at her time and again.
It’s mainly by the moneymen who can’t understand why the entrepreneur, recently crowned Veuve Cliquot Businesswoman of the Year, has continued to refuse outside investment.
"Venture capitalists have said that I’m a fool for not expanding, that I’ve missed opportunities," says the 43-year-old when we meet at her design studio in Clapham, south London. "And wouldn’t I rather a small portion of a big business than still be the owner-manager of a medium-sized one?"
In fact, Tenison has been passionate about the latter since setting up what was originally a mail order company in 1993. And with 27 shops spread across Britain today, a thriving online business, 300 employees and a turnover of £21.5m, it’s stood her in good stead.
Yet she accepts that it’s not a business decision for everyone. Before the recession hit, she had plans for rapid expansion, with eight new stores planned for the UK in 2008 and a franchise set to open in the US. But that was scuppered when their lending facility was frozen.
“If someone else took hold of this business, they would consider a lot of our team dead wood”
Rather than turn to external investors however, Tenison went even further the other way. "I learnt that I wanted to self-fund, that I wasn’t going to be reliant on anyone else. So we’re growing organically now and self-funding eight stores a year."
While she insists outside investment still isn’t off the cards, there’s a whole raft of reasons why she hasn’t already gone down that route. The main one, perhaps, is protecting her employees and the company ethos she’s worked hard to instil - something that goes back to her teens.
Originally from Newport in south Wales (JoJo’s headquarters and warehouse are still located there), Tenison was always an entrepreneurial child, designing, making and selling clothes in her teens. In her early 20s, rather than go to university, she travelled the world, buying silks in India and China, and working as a hotel manager in Australia until returning to the UK to learn about retail at Aquascutum.
In her mid-20s, she moved to France where she worked hard doing up old farmhouses and re-selling them at a profit. Two years later, and £50K richer, she was set to return to the UK to start up her own business, having also negotiated a £50K bank overdraft.
But not before disaster and inspiration simultaneously struck. Before returning, Tenison was involved in a severe car accident that left her in hospital with 20 broken bones. The Frenchwoman in the hospital bed next to her was continuously flicking through mail order catalogues, bemoaning the lack of beautiful baby clothes on offer.
This was how Tenison came up with the idea for JoJo, and designing baby wear with a nautical theme. Maternity wear came later when she noticed the drab outfits on British women.
All these early business experiences profoundly impacted the JoJo ethos. At Aquascutum, she noticed the sales assistants were paid on individual commission and hence team spirit was non-existent. So Tenison operated a profit share system from day one, with everyone rewarded for their work, no matter what their position. "It secures the jobs, grows the business, promotes teamwork and makes people more proud of what they do and feel more included in the business."
She also wanted trust, loyalty and respect as the cornerstones of JoJo - for customers, staff and suppliers. This led to a family atmosphere developing. "If someone else took hold of this business, they would consider a lot of our team as dead wood," she admits. "But they don’t understand the true value of human beings and of having loyalty in a company."
Over the years, she’s given the JoJo family as much time as her criminal barrister husband, John Femi-Ola, and two sons, Toby (11) and Ben (14). Yet, magically, she made it work. Famous for taking one day of maternity leave per child, working 18-hour days, and still being home to cook dinner, she says: "I’m an all or nothing person. So when I had children, I was determined that I wasn’t going to hand them over to a nanny. I had cleaners, crèches and au pairs, but I didn’t want anyone taking over from me."
She’s careful about advising others to follow in her footsteps though. "Not every woman has the level of energy that enables me to be a hands-on mum and a hands-on head of a company. They need to be realistic about what they want. For most women, that’s work/life balance. A part-time job is an ideal situation. If you have a business, and you’re working from home as I did in the early years, you’re never off duty," she insists.
"There is no point going into an industry that is male-dominated and puts pressure on you if you want to be a hands-on parent"
"And there is no point going into an industry that is male-dominated and puts pressure on you if you want to be a hands-on parent. Go into an industry that’s more accepting of flexi and part-time."
Although she’s working fewer hours these days, Tenison’s super-hero energy is still being tested to the limit. "There are so many demands. I have them at work, then at home my husband is asking ‘What’s for supper’, the dog wants to be taken for a walk, the children need help with their homework, and what I really need is a glass of wine and some peace and quiet."
The peace and quiet comes when she’s cycling to work, meetings in the city or towns she’s scoping out for a new JoJo shop. "Oddly, it’s me time," she laughs. In fact, it’s her bike, her boys and booking the odd ski holiday which she considers the biggest reward after all these years in business. What venture capitalist could compete with that?
Visit Jojo Maman Bébé for more information.
By Barbara Walshe
