Most entrepreneurs aim to disrupt an industry. Susie Hewson set out to detoxify one.
In a world where “green” is too often a marketing strategy, Hewson, founder of Natracare and one of the original eco-preneurs, has built a business that didn’t just launch ahead of the sustainability curve; it helped define it.
In her conversation with Ginni Saraswati on The Ginni Show, Hewson delivers a powerful reminder to any entrepreneur: You don’t need flashy tech, funding rounds, or hype to change the world. You need conviction, creativity, and an unshakable intolerance for the status quo.
Here’s what founders, builders, and business leaders can take away from one of the most quietly revolutionary careers in modern entrepreneurship.
1. Rebellion Is a Business Model
Hewson didn’t start Natracare because it was trendy. She started it because she was furious. After seeing how pulp bleaching polluted waterways and how “forever chemicals” in menstrual products posed invisible dangers to women’s health, she decided that protest wasn’t enough. She had to put something better into the market.
“Resistance and protest are important,” she says, “but putting something into the market that makes a difference… was the better way to go.”
For today’s founders: If you see a problem that enrages you, don’t just campaign. Compete. Create. Offer something so good it makes the harmful obsolete.
2. Your First Office Might Just Be a Kitchen Table
Before Slack, Shopify, or Stripe existed, Hewson was dialing up research centers on a landline and thumbing through library archives to validate her product.
There were no startup toolkits or accelerators. There was tenacity.
She launched Natracare in a pre-internet world and built it to a global brand, product by product, often with no salary and limited resources. “It took longer to think of the brand name than it did to develop the first product,” she says.
In an age of endless digital shortcuts, Hewson reminds us that the resource you most need is resourcefulness.
3. Certify, Validate, and Back It Up
One of Hewson’s non-negotiables? Radical transparency.
In a category ripe with greenwashing, her products are independently tested, certified organic, and even home compostable. “If it doesn’t work, people won’t use it,” she explains. “But if it works and it’s sustainable, you’re making real change.”
For founders claiming purpose or environmental values, this is a masterclass: if you say it, certify it.
4. Longevity Is the Real Disruptor
While most startups dream of unicorn exits in five years, Hewson has sustained Natracare for over 40. And she’s done it with the same fire that fueled her first protest.
Her secret? “Always moving the bar up,” she says. “Looking to challenge what’s not right with your product, because that’s what makes a difference to the end user — and to the world.”
Legacy is built not in the launch, but in the iteration.
5. Your Energy Is a Business Asset
Hewson jokes that she might be “a firework that won’t go out” or just “a natural hunter-gatherer,” but the truth is, her stamina is tied to purpose.
Even a breast cancer diagnosis in 2019 didn’t slow her down. “I just carried on,” she says. “I can’t sit still. If I’m not doing something, I’m probably asleep.”
Her advice to other entrepreneurs? Don’t waste time. “Putting things off till tomorrow means you’ve missed what you could have achieved today.”
6. Every Founder Can Give More Than They Take
Hewson hasn’t just given to the planet. She’s also given opportunity to others. Through Natracare’s e-commerce, she supports a one-for-one pad donation program with Ecofem in India. Through 1% for the Planet and grassroots music organizations, her business funds empowerment at every level.
“Sometimes it’s a small amount that makes a huge difference,” she says.
In a business landscape that celebrates personal gain, Hewson’s ethos flips the script: use your company as a conduit for good.
Final Thought
At 40 years in, Susie Hewson isn’t slowing down. She’s still challenging systems, innovating with integrity, and hand-sewing her own suits for award ceremonies with the King of England.
Founders often ask, “What does it take to build something that lasts?”
Susie Hewson’s answer is clear: It takes fire. It takes empathy. It takes relentless, inconvenient, uncompromising care.
And that just might be the most radical business strategy of all.
Spencer Hulse is the Editorial Director at Grit Daily. He is responsible for overseeing other editors and writers, day-to-day operations, and covering breaking news.
