
The founder of organic tampon business Tom Co says the time was right to sell out to ASX-listed Asaleo Care after 15 years growing the firm she first conceived as a high school student.
Aimee Lock (formerly Marks) started Tom when she was just 19, bringing the world’s first organic tampons to market and expanding into underwear, menstrual cups, nappies and baby wipes to reach turnover of $20 million a year.
Aimee Lock first had the idea for Tom Co when she was at high school. Credit:Wayne Taylor
After battling taboos and prejudice early on when she was asked to take down counter displays of Tom products after being told they were inappropriate to advertise next to food, it was a bittersweet moment for Lock to sell Tom for $12.75 million in January to personal hygiene giant Asaleo, which has supermarket staples Libra, Tena and Handee Ultra.
“For me it was just about calling it,” she says. “Knowing that I felt really satisfied and proud of where Tom had got to and it was living up to all the dreams I ever had for the business.”
Over the years Lock has seen the personal hygiene category take off and interest build in ethically run and environmentally sustainable businesses, however, after having three children, the 34-year-old says it was time to take stock on what she wanted next personally and professionally.
“It was literally like twins on the boob, put them down in the cot, run into the office, do a couple of hours, back again, back and forth,” she says. “I think there’s only so long you can work at that rate until it’s time to really take care of your own health.”
Lock says Tom was like a fourth child to her and she wanted to see the business thrive and expand globally so she set about undertaking an 18-month capital-raising process, which is where she first started talking to Asaleo.
“I could see the full potential of where Tom needed to go to next and I knew that was at a scale that would require a certain level of capital and expertise that were probably only accessible outside of the current environment,” she says. “There was never an intention at the beginning of that process for me to fully exit the business. But that was hands down the right evolution.”
According to Lock, Asaleo could have gone off and started its own organic tampon company but the personal hygiene products group was prepared to pay for the nature of the business and the brand she had built.
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