As part of the Young Enterprise Scheme, Fleur de Clifford and Lily Falcous wanted to create a business idea that their peers would use and that served a purpose.
The year 12 Otago Girls’ High School students settled on creating their own sunscreen and did not want to see a single sunburn this summer.
Lily said the idea came about because, as they grew up, many of their friends started giving up on sunscreen in an effort to get a “bronze tan”.
However, over the past couple of years she had noticed a cultural shift and sunscreen was “becoming cooler again”.
“SPF is now in lots of lotions. However, sometimes it just sits at about 15+. We wanted to make one that was more effective than that.”
So, they created their own sunscreen called “Sunscent”, and sales go live on Friday.
The sunscreen doubles as a bug-spray.
Lily said not wearing sunscreen was a choice between having tan lines now or staying healthy for another 50 years.
When the pair first started in February, they attempted to make their own formula, but soon found sunscreen was a seriously involved product to create.
They changed tactics and cold-called more than 50 companies before finding an Auckland-based business that was willing to help them formulate the sunscreen and put the product through regulation in Australia.
In New Zealand, sunscreen is regulated under the Fair Trading Act and the Sunscreen (Product Safety Standard) Act. It must be shipped to Australia to be tested, which costs up to $10,000.
“That offer from the person in Auckland was so generous,” Lily said.
Fleur said the job was a lot tougher than they thought it would be and they briefly contemplated switching to lip balm.
“Then we were like ‘Oh, no, we can definitely do this’.
“It definitely has a bit more complexity trying to create a sunscreen than some other projects we could have done — we wanted a challenge and we definitely got a challenge,” Fleur said.
At the moment, the pair had 50 units of sunscreen to sell, but had more on hand if needed.
laine.priestley@odt.co.nz
