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Founder@ Interview
Interview with Alison Wood and Mhairi Cochrane
“Invest time in your own personal development; self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and self-care are going to be key to your success and ensuring you continue to thrive as a human as well as a founder. .” – Alison Wood and Mhairi Cochrane
Today we feature Alison Wood and Mhairi Cochrane, the founder at Floco. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
We are Alison Wood and Mhairi Cochrane, the co-founders of Floco. We met in 2018 at Edinburgh University and founded Floco together. Floco is on a mission to help everyone who flows have the best period they can. We do this in 3 ways.
Firstly, we design high-quality reusable period pads because you should not have to compromise on quality to live sustainably. Secondly, we are fighting period poverty with every pack we sell.
Our not-for-profit organisation works collaboratively with organisations across 8 different countries increasing access to period products and education. Finally, we deliver inclusive and fun period and puberty education to young people across the UK. The aim of this education is to encourage empathy amongst young people and help them stand up to inequalities, stereotypes, and stigma.
We are both passionate about using innovation and education with compassion to give everyone the best life they can.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
Floco began after we were volunteering with a charity in rural Kenya and discovered that many young students were being forced to engage in transactional sex in exchange for period products because they did not have access.
Sadly as it turns out, many girls all over the world face this problem, just to ensure they don’t miss out on school every month, valuing the freedom that their education could buy them above all else. Since then we have been committed to fighting period inequality.
We began making reusable period pads in the UK and travelled back to Kenya to train local women to run their own period pad project that would increase access to safe period products in a sustainable way. When making reusable period pads ourselves we identified an opportunity to sell high quality reusable period pads in the UK that would help support our mission internationally.
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At the time we were both at University. We have both always been passionate about improving the lives of others and decided to take a leap of faith and work fully on Floco after graduating from University.
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
Floco (pronounced flow-co) are a community of people who flow. Floco was founded by 2 young women; Mhairi Cochrane and Alison Wood in 2018 in Edinburgh where Floco is still based. Floco is on a mission to ensure everyone who flows can have the best period they can.
We do this in 3 ways.
1. Innovation: We have designed high quality, discreet and comfy reusable period pads. Floco’s pads are an absolute game-changer, using ultra absorbent technical materials to keep you feeling dry and secure. We were fed up with bulky or itchy products, so we were passionate about making a range of pads with you in mind. We feel they are a game-changer for the sustainable period product market, and we hope you do too. Floco have a range of reusable period pads.
They have been designed to be soft, fitted to your body and discreet. Our reusable pads last between 2 and 5 years (or 100 washes). Floco pads are currently sold through their website and through retailers. We are committed to innovation and continue to gather feedback to improve our pads further as well as explore other product options (stay tuned!).
2. Education to Empower: Floco has created an education programme focusing on periods, puberty and gender stereotypes that is inclusive and engaging. and aims to encourage young people to pick apart stereotypes and nurtures a culture of understanding and compassion. We deliver these in schools, colleges and universities across the UK.
3. Fighting period poverty: Floco are dedicated to helping people who flow live the best life they can. So when you buy from Floco they are able to support women around the world. Their initiatives increase access to period products and education.This is not your typical charity scheme. The Floco model aims to be community led and empowering.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
Floco’s ‘aha’ moment definitely lies with us getting more confident as individuals; trusting our instincts and being committed to our vision for Floco not anyone else’s.
We started Floco to ensure no one had to miss school because of their period, to ensure no one had to risk their lives and wellbeing to access period products and to challenge the stigma and stereotypes that continue to harm people who flow all across the world. Every decision we make feeds into this goal and keeps us motivated.
Mentors, friends and supporters who understand and respect this vision have been the biggest asset to Floco and have helped us thrive. Those who have encouraged us to take risks and dream big have pushed us out of our comfort zones and ensured we have hit our goals.
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
Starting a business straight from University has been really challenging. Learning what feels like hundreds of new skills in a short space of time, and working at 100 miles an hour can be exhausting, especially when there is uncertainty about the future. It’s definitely our passion for the mission which keeps us focused, but we still have days where we feel overwhelmed at times.”
As two female founders running a period product business we’ve also faced some personal challenges. Stigma around periods, dismissal of our capabilities, and learning to believe in ourselves in rooms where we were the only women have been some of the barriers we have been working to overcome. However, we keep fighting because we hope that we can help other women feel confident in their abilities.
We wish we had known that everything takes triple the amount of time you think it will. Delays are going to happen and as you grow and work with more and more people timescales are less in your control.
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
Our advice to our younger selves would definitely be to trust our own judgement and have confidence in our own abilities. We never pictured ourselves running a business and imposter syndrome can feel overwhelming sometimes.
We would want our younger selves to know that being an entrepreneur and founder does not look the same for everyone. Take hold of the title and do what you want with it. Innovation and entrepreneurship can be making peoples lives better and that is just as worthy as any other initiative.
https://youtu.be/0FXhn35IUnE
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
Slack, Asana, Ducalis
Floco are a small team that work remotely. Easy communication and transparent goal setting softwares are great for saving time and helping us stay on track.
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
We wish we had known that everything takes triple the amount of time you think it will. Delays are going to happen and as you grow and work with more and more people timescales are less in your control.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
One of our proudest moments was getting feedback from a partner organisation for the first time. Learning that local students were attending school more often on their periods, that they were using the pads and that they were happy with them felt like the biggest achievement.
Every time we receive positive feedback either from our UK customers or from our partners it feels like a massive achievement.
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
We want to scale Floco to be recognised as one of the leading sustainable period product brands. We hope this scale will allow us to expand our team, enabling us to dive into the parts of Floco we really enjoy.
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
Invest time in your own personal development; self awareness, emotional intelligence and self-care are going to be key to your success and ensuring you continue to thrive as a human as well as a founder.
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Floco”
To learn more about Floco Visit www.flocowear.com
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