Charlotte Walsh
Charlotte Walsh is an experienced engineer with an MSC from the University of Hull.
She boasts 15 years of expertise in the medical device industry and has a particular passion for manufacturing and driving process efficiencies.
1. Tell us a little bit about your business…
Charlotte Walsh is the Founder of The Silicone Straw Company, the first company to manufacture reusable silicone straws in the UK. She is on a mission to offer a stylish and sustainable alternative to soggy paper straws.
2. How did you get into the industry?
I’m an engineer with 15 years experience in UK manufacturing and the medical device industry but I’m also an entrepreneur at heart. When I discovered the UK Government were introducing the plastic straw ban, I was drawn to the opportunity to use my technical experience to develop a viable alternative. I was amazed once I had my final designs to find that that no other UK based company were manufacturing silicone straws here, so I knew there was a gap in the market I could fill!
3. What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
Everyone hates soggy paper straws and so there is a massive opportunity for me to help people with this pain point but also to educate people about the environmental positives of using reusable straws. I believe we will see the trend away from plastics to evolve into increasingly more reusable items. When you think about it, shipping something half way around the world to use it once and throw it away is really only a superficial improvement on the plastic it is replacing. I’m currently in the home and giftware industry and I’m finding that people do seek out sustainable gifts that are made in the UK.
The biggest challenge at the moment is inflation and the increasing costs of raw materials.
4. How would you describe your business style?
I’m a small business with big ambitions for the impact my product will have on the planet and society. However, my focus remains firmly on the user experience as those goals will be achieved by creating sustainable products that people enjoy and want to use instead of them being forced away from less sustainable alternatives. This includes the experience of our brand so I suppose it’s fair to say my style is very hands on, doing everything from personally handling complaints about missing parcels to being the person at the front and centre talking to customers and retailers about our products.
5. How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
I work with a lot of other small businesses and larger corporations and across the board I find you get the most out of people by just being nice and genuine.
6. What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
Taking care of myself is the most crucial thing to making sure the business continues to succeed. It’s so easy to be tempted to put the business and everything it needs before yourself but having the discipline to just make sure I take enough time to make sure I am healthy and in a good place means I am so much more focussed and productive.
7. How has the past 12 months been for you?
The last 12 months has been fantastic for The Silicone Straw Company and at Christmas I received my largest wholesale order to date from Oliver Bonas. I was thrilled they wanted my reusable straws in a travel tin to be part of their Christmas Gift range as they had been my dream stockist since the start of this adventure.
8. What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
The last 18 months has been challenging for a lot of my stockists as the cost of living crisis has hit home. Like any business, I have tried to be nimble and look for opportunities so I am currently focussing on the corporate market where ESG requirements are creating an opportunity for sustainable brands to form corporate gifting partnerships.
I am also going on an all female Trade Mission with the Department of Business and Trade to Chicago and Indianapolis as part of the Women’s Internationalisation Network program. I hope that expanding my network will lead to great opportunities to export in 2024.
9. What are the highlights of your career so far?
One of my first targets when I start out was to be recognised in the BBC’s Good Food Guide as one of the best reusable straw brands, so it was a real highlight for me when that happened. I have also loved having the opportunity to meet celebrities such as Sara Davies and Theo Paphitis, both of whom I have photographic evidence of using my straws!
10. What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
My biggest business mistake was purchasing 15,000 postage envelopes on day one just to get the best unit price. 4 years on and I still have lots of the left! I’m not sure why I felt the need to buy so many, maybe I was being optimistic or not fully understanding back then that cash flow and stock management was going to be key in helping in the early days of a start-up.
11. What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
Don’t compare yourself to others is something I try to always bear in mind. Like people, every business is different.
