15 April 2021
Women in Business, sponsored by Eclipse Recruitment
Eclipse Recruitment has sponsored the Women in Business event series since its inception in 2016. It was most gratifying therefore when director Lisa Hill opened proceedings by confirming that this support will be continuing for a fifth consecutive year. Lisa also shared some Covid-related recruitment insights, which are generally positive. The permanent side of Eclipse is “humming”, and this confidence is reassuring, but it also means that competition for candidates is “fierce”.
Tracey Melville-Smith grew up with food – she says that her mum had about a thousand fillings for school-lunch sandwiches! – but it was not her first career choice. When she went to university in Dunedin, Tracey was one of only four girls to be studying tech. She graduated with a degree in commerce and then embarked on a high-flying career path in IT and finance, with the likes of ASB, PWC UK, and Westpac. But, the corporate world, she says, “got the best of me”. When the inflexibility of business priorities clashed once-too-often with family matters, Tracey was left feeling disillusioned. It was time to step away.
For several months, she and her husband threw around ideas of what business they could start. There were several potentials, but none of these sparked Tracey’s excitement or passion.
So, why did they go for chocolate?
It encapsulated all the things that her family like and enjoy, and is a sector where New Zealand has an established competitive edge: people trust New Zealand food. Plus, having a child who lives with allergies, creating decent food with traceable ingredients is close to Tracey’s heart.
The Remarkable Chocolate Co was thus founded on quality and ethics, with a focus on the future of food. This means choosing organic and Fairtrade ingredients because “it’s important to be able to sleep at night”.
Coming up with flavour combinations that she thought sounded tasty, Tracey started to make prototypes at home, and trying them out on friends. Local markets followed and, bit by bit, quality food stores and supermarkets.
Life is not all smooth sailing for a small business. Tracey shared the good, the bad and the ugly, and admitted that she is “really useless at asking for help” because of the “I should know this” feeling. (This sentiment struck a chord in the room, with several nods of acknowledgement.) Choosing a business model which precludes external investment enables it to be managed within the team’s skillset and budget, but limits the pace of growth. It is also the probable reason that The Remarkable Chocolate Co is not a household name… yet.
In the spirit of that good, old-fashioned Kiwi attitude of “roll up your sleeves and do it yourself”, Tracey handles all the social media marketing. She encouraged her audience, when they see Remarkable products in a store, to tidy the shelf and share a photo – because “it takes many hands” to build a business’ community. To further encourage this support, everyone was then able to taste some Remarkable chocolate – which clearly went down well, literally and figuratively!
Click here to view the event’s photos.
