Why Authenticity is Good for Business

On Tuesday 30th July, CEW welcomed Sarah Brown, Founder of Pai Skincare and CEW Executive Board Member to discuss the importance of authenticity in business. Sarah started with an introduction into the strong desire for change that drove her to create Pai, a new business paradigm created in 2007, after finding misleading ingredients lists contributed to the worsening condition of her sensitive skin.  
“I didn’t create Pai with a warm fuzzy feeling, I was angry and needed to do something to see change”, said Brown, encouraging guests to use a problem as the grounds to create a relevant business. She then began to delve into the meaning of what makes something actually authentic and the ambiguity behind the buzz word. 
The word ‘authentic’ is typically defined as being something that is simply real. However, Sarah’s definition of authenticity is a brand that honestly divulges its practices – flaws and all. “Often, being an authentic brand makes no economic sense, but you do it anyway because it’s the right thing to do”, Sarah told the room whilst also announcing that their SPF actually took 7 years to perfect. 
Sarah closed the mentoring event with the statistic that over 76% of people that took part in the Soil Association’s 2019 survey didn’t trust brands to not mislead them with their ingredients list. “Customers are ultimately looking for a reason to believe, use authenticity to divide yourself from the rest”. 
CEW thanks Sarah Brown for demystifying the ‘authenticity’ buzz word.