Starting fresh
After founding, scaling, and exiting a successful consumer goods company, Maree Glading took some much-needed time out to focus on her family. But when her young daughter started looking for skincare, Maree spotted a gap in the market she couldn’t ignore.
“My daughter at the time was 12, she had a few pimples – nothing too serious – but I really wanted to buy her her first skincare range,” Maree says. “What I noticed was she either wanted really cheap and nasty products with questionable ingredients made in questionable places, or she wanted products that were really expensive and weren’t suited to her skin… and they were marketed to women my age.”
Realising there was no brand that got her "tick of approval as a mum" while also appealing to younger consumers, Maree did what entrepreneurs do: she created one herself. The result was Evre (pronounced ‘Every’), a 100% natural skincare range designed specifically for teens.
“We don’t use any harsh actives or strong essential oils that can damage the skin barrier and we don’t use any endocrine disruptors that can meddle with developing hormones, which is the last thing you need when you’re a teenager.”
Glowing pains
Launching a brand in New Zealand came with plenty of advantages. “New Zealand is an amazing place to start a business,” says Maree. “Everyone is willing to help you, it’s a great place to start a brand.”
But it also presented challenges, especially when it came to scaling. “If you have anything that’s slightly niche it’s very hard to scale and that’s where the challenges come in,” Maree explains.
Then there were the financial pressures. “Cash is king, everyone says that. It’s really important in the beauty industry because you have such high MOQs [minimum order quantities]. You have to order large quantities of packaging and we don’t often have the population to sustain that.”
Expanding into international markets brought a fresh set of hurdles: regulatory compliance, staffing, logistics, tax implications, and more.
Flawless financial complexion
Having invested a significant amount of her own money, Maree faced a tough situation – raising more capital or finding other support. That’s when she discovered the ANZ Business Boost programme, designed to help small businesses take their next step.
As one of five winners chosen, the programme offered Maree the support she needed to strengthen her financial foundations and grow her business.
The programme partnered Maree with Aimee Greenhough of In Good Company, a financial management and accounts team. Aimee came on board as fractional CFO. “We’ve helped Evre to build a financial management programme and operational systems to support their growth both internationally and locally,” Aimee says.
The focus was on building clear financial visibility and planning for different growth scenarios – which unlocked some extra benefits. “We’ve also managed to free up a lot of time, which means that Maree can get on with innovating and marketing the business that she’s creating,” explains Aimee. Meanwhile, “the team in the back office can do what we do well”.
Maree’s dos and don’ts for small business owners
Don’t try to be perfect. “80% is good enough. Just get in market and start learning and stop over-analysing everything.”
Don’t underestimate the effort required. “There are so many challenges when expanding into an international market. It’s like setting up a completely new business.”
Do get professional support. “It’s allowed me to free up my time to focus on where I can have the biggest impact – sales, developing our marketing plan, and our strong innovation plan.”
Do understand your costs. “When we get asked by a retailer to do X, Y and Z, we can give a definite yes or no because we understand how much money we’ve got to spend.”
Ready for the spotlight
For Maree, working with a financial expert like Aimee is a gamechanger: “We’re able to have clarity around our financials so we have a really strong platform to scale and grow profitably.”
With new systems in place, Evre now has a seamless tech stack that integrates platforms like Shopify, Amazon, Unleashed and Xero – giving Maree and her team a clear line of sight over their cashflow.
“We have really good visibility around all our financials and we also have some great graphics that come off the back of that by using Spotlight Reporting,” says Maree.
Glow-up goals
With solid financial systems, Maree has strong growth aspirations for Evre, including increasing the brand’s product range, expanding into adjacent product categories, and exploring different international markets. Evre is already stocked in more than 700 stores, with plans to reach 2,000 by the end of 2025 and 3,000 by mid-2026.
“There are so many exciting things in Evre’s future,” Maree says. “We want to be the largest personal care business for teens and tweens globally.”
With strong financial systems and a clear growth strategy, Maree is on her way to making that vision a reality.
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