What's Essential
About EO?
Its Customer

Private Equity Or Being Acquired
Options Within Two Years

By Richard Collings
Published: July 29, 2009

   Small World Trading Company, known for its EO personal care line made with certified organic and all-natural ingredients, continues to experience double-digit growth this year, said co-founder Susan Griffin-Black.
   EO, which stands for Essential Oils, benefits from a distribution deal with Whole Foods Market and forecasts additional growth as it crosses over into other retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, plus grocery store and drug store chains, she explained. It should be noted that both the Nasdaq-listed entities of Whole Foods and Bed Bath & Beyond are trading near their 52-week highs as of July 28--solid performers in an otherwise disheartening retail sector.
   Small World Trading expects to achieve revenues of perhaps $9 million this year, she said. Just last year, the company invested in new equipment, upgrading its production facility located in the southern portion of Marin County, California, so that it could fulfill $15 million worth of orders on an annual basis.
   The company is now looking at ways to further incentivize employees, particularly senior management, Griffin-Black said, but would have a better idea a year from now how it would structure such a program and whether it could involve equity.
   Griffin-Black said Small World Trading could also foresee bringing on board private equity within the next two years, or entertain being acquired, to help lift the company to the next level. Once the company’s factory reaches its current capacity, it will need additional resources.
   The company is quite knowledgeable of many of the key private equity players, but has not yet entertained any investment nor is seeking advice from any particular investment banking firm, preferring to remain flexible for the time, she said.
   Griffin-Black believes there are smart, capable private equity firms that could really add value, and embrace the company’s culture key to maintaining its current customer base, she said. She described her customers as very “sticky,” having won them over “one at a time.”
   Based in Corte Madera, California, and founded in 1995 by Griffin-Black and her husband Brad Black, Small World Trading grew out of a desire to make a beautiful product for family and friends, building a community in the process, and to ultimately make a living doing so, she said.
   That remains true to this day, as it maintains a close relationship with its vendors and customers, and as the company compensates its employees well above minimum wage, while covering 75% of their health and dental insurance, with the remaining 25% being deducted from wages.
   Small World Trading remains committed to using as many organic ingredients as possible, Griffin-Black said, with EO products comprised of at least 50% organic ingredients on average and the remainder being all-natural ingredients.
   It is proud of not only pursuing sustainability through what its products are made of, but also in manufacturing domestically and having a self-sustaining business model.
   She said the company has been very cautious in how it has grown the business, such as not selling in some of the big box retailers in the past, with no rapid ramping up of its top-line, so that even in an economic downturn, revenues are consistent.
   Griffin-Black used words such as self-sufficiency, boot-strapping, and authenticity to describe the company’s core values, and cited individuals such as Judy Wicks and Alice Waters as inspirational, as well as companies that include Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s.
   With the economic downturn perhaps causing a few consumers to rethink some of their values and shopping habits, it could be that the years of inspiration and perspiration behind Small World Trading have finally intersected with the demands of the marketplace.

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