What makes a great founder? And how do they transform their first spark of an idea into a growing business? We're talking to our customers to find out.
Julie Chen and Chris Forbes founded The Cheeky Panda, which makes eco-friendly tissue paper and wipes from the world’s fastest-growing plant: bamboo. The founders like to say their business “has been growing as fast as bamboo,” and they’ve relied on efficient processes and a full-featured financial system to manage it.
A New Opportunity in Sustainability
The Cheeky Panda’s story began in 2016. When researching ideas for a sustainable business in Southeast Asia, Chen and Forbes were struck by the amount of surplus bamboo they saw going to waste in the traditional tissue manufacturing process. They identified an opportunity to make new, more eco-friendly products — like toilet roll and tissue — from this abundant material in order to reduce plastic use, cut carbon emissions, and save trees.
“We were so amazed at how much bamboo was involved in the manufacturing process, and 90% was surplus,” said Chen. “For us, putting it to use was just a no-brainer.”
After a crowdfunding campaign, the husband-and-wife founding team designed an original product, manufactured it in China, and shipped it to the UK, where they sold it first on Amazon and then through premium brick-and-mortar retailers.
“We started small, turning over just £1,000 per month,” said Chen. “And then it snowballed. Today, we have a business that turns over £12 million annually, with a head office in London and subsidiaries in China, the United States, and Ireland, and 25 people working across the world.”
Get a peek into The Cheeky Panda’s story:
Financial Management, Inventory Management, and Reporting Get a Boost
As the business grew, The Cheeky Panda faced cost pressure from inflation. Chen and Forbes quickly recognized the need for a business management system that would offer a clear view of financials as The Cheeky Panda expanded across borders. The team chose NetSuite OneWorld(opens in new tab) in part for the ERP system’s ability to automatically consolidate financials(opens in new tab) for international subsidiaries while supporting 190 currencies.
“NetSuite has been a very important part of our growth,” said Forbes. “We adopted it quite early in our journey, which was the right decision. NetSuite OneWorld gives us a centralized view of accounting processes, data, and reporting across the 25 countries we operate in. We can always get a snapshot of the company’s financial health.”
Benefits of The Cheeky Panda’s new system extend beyond financials. Before NetSuite, managing inventory was “impossible,” according to Forbes. Now, the team "can see inventory KPIs clearly,” he said. “We don’t have to purchase overstock or end up understocked. NetSuite offers an easy and simple way to manage demand.”
The Cheeky Panda sells via a range of channels including direct-to-consumer and wholesale. It uses NetSuite reporting to determine which SKUs are selling well in which regions and adjust production accordingly.
“Without NetSuite, we wouldn’t be able to understand the sales and profitability of every single channel, class, or product overseas,” said Chen. “With NetSuite, we see it instantly.”
Founded on sustainability, The Cheeky Panda has always prioritized tracking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics to show both its team and customers how it’s fulfilling its mission. The company uses NetSuite Planning and Budgeting(opens in new tab) to track the weight of finished products and export that data to a carbon calculator, which determines the volume of carbon emissions created in the manufacturing process. That way, The Cheeky Panda knows exactly how many trees it must help save in order to offset those carbon emissions—a practice that’s core to its operations.
Future Growth
In our State of Entrepreneurship Report(opens in new tab), 45% of business owners said that improving profits was their main aim for the year. The Cheeky Panda finds NetSuite indispensable in working toward this goal, Forbes said.
And with NetSuite, the team has all the capabilities it needs to boost profitability this year—and beyond.
“The ambition is to build The Cheeky Panda into a £50 million turnover business and a household name,” he said. “I’d like it to be a go-to choice for young people when they start their families. I love to see people adopt Cheeky Panda as part of their lifestyle.”
See how other businesses use NetSuite(opens in new tab) to achieve their growth ambitions like The Cheeky Panda.