Fit for a monarch 

0:11Hello and welcome to The Entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business. On today's programme, we meet the leaders of two companies that both have the royal seal of approval. First, we'll meet the president of a Japanese confectionery company that's been making traditional sweets for five centuries. Our target customer is somebody who can appreciate the details, who care about the culture, the healthiness, the quality. Yes, usually like our sweets. And later, we'll hear from the CEO of a hair care brand used by the Swedish royal family, which he inherited by surprise.

0:52It was a sinking ship with holes in the whole boat, and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. My colleague, I remember him saying, you know, well, what is the worst thing that can happen? It can go bankrupt, and then we do that with a big orchestra, and we drown ourselves in champagne. This is The Entrepreneurs, with me, Tom Edwards.

1:16You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Mitsuhara Kurokawa is the president of Toraya Confectionery, a company that's been making traditional Japanese sweets since the early 1500s when it was founded in Kyoto. Today, it's based in Tokyo with three factories, about 80 shops across Japan and even a boutique in Paris. Over the centuries then, Toraya has built a remarkable legacy, not just for the quality of its products, but also as a long-time supplier to the Japanese imperial family, a relationship that's lasted more than 400 years. I caught up with Korokawa-san on a recent visit to Dubai and began by asking whether he feels the weight of that kind of history.

1:59In a way, if I start thinking about it, it's very heavy in a way. But at the same time, like I think after all, we are all the same. We are like receiving something from the past and providing and like bringing it to the future. So I think my role is the same as everybody else do. I love that. And tell me about innovating, because there is a pressure, presumably, if you want to make change and you want to be fresh with your thinking. Yes. You've got that. Thank you for that. How do you how do you balance that? So there are many things that it's very hard for me to change, for us to change, because we are over 400 year old confectionery company.

2:38We make products that we've been making it for over 300 years, 200 years, 100 years. We always make something new, but usually similar recipe as what we had before. But obviously techniques, all the equipments are improving over the world. And we always want to be at the edge of it. So aside from what we do traditionally, we also make a new section where we produce sweets using all these other ingredients that's coming from outside of Japan. And also with people with the technique who has, for instance, like we have teamed up with Michelin three-star chef, who is the only Michelin three-star chef from Asia who got one in France.

3:19So he uses all these mostly French techniques to make new sweets, but using Japanese ingredients. so by having this kind of talent and using new ingredients we try to always be at the top of it and so that we can continue to be the best at it i love that tell me about your your customer because often people say well whatever you're making whether it's confectionery or shoes or aircraft yes you need to create them with your end user in mind right now in your head i guess who is the end user because we know it's maybe the royal house but then also it's people and increasingly from all around the world so who do you think about so we very much focus on quality of our products so we make something that's not necessarily very cheap but more rather it becomes to be expensive our target customer is somebody who can appreciate the quality of products so some people when you think about eating food they wouldn't care too much about the taste of it the quality of it but they just want to eat it but for us like we care about the very small differences between one product to the other.

4:24So our customers are sometimes maybe a little bit wealthy people, but not necessarily, but somebody who is more focused on culture. So if we want to experience something that's being passed on, something that we use for rituals around Japan and something also new and the best of it. So we have a lot of customers of tea masters in Japan too. And all these people who is working on fashion or culture, they tend to, yes, favor our sweets. Do you think because they love story, they love storytelling maybe, and it's got this amazing tale? So those people who care about the details, who care about the culture, who cares about the healthiness, the quality, yes, usually like our sweets.

5:11Are you allowed to have a favorite product or are you not allowed to choose one? I can, obviously. I mean, obviously I love all our products. it changes over the season. So during the chestnut season, we have the chestnut sweets. During the user season, we have user sweets. And so every season has different characteristics. And it's very difficult for me to choose one best sweet style. And tell me about when you engage with your customers. I mean, that must be amazing. If you can see somebody having one of those almost eureka moments when they enjoy one of your suite what's your favorite way to engage with customers i mean presumably you you're happy if they email you and say oh i love this product but do you like to be next to them in person when they're trying the products or talk to people so our product is very popular in japan we have been out for over 400 years obviously and and so a lot of times japanese customers know our products but pretty recently we have been introducing it to outside of japan and actually we do have store in Paris for over 40, this year is going to be 45th year.

6:17And so when I see people in Paris enjoying our suites, I sometimes say, oh, I'm from this company, Toraya. And they would be like, oh, you're from Toraya. I love that shop. And I love this particular suites, et cetera. So when customers tell me that it's really, yeah, fascinates me, I wouldn't think people from other culture would be liking our suites so much. But they travel, I think it travels so well. Miss Hora-san, tell me about your inspiration, because we talked about heritage and innovation. Presumably, when you're the leader of a business, you need to ensure that you're constantly getting fresh inspiration.

6:54Where and how do you find that? Is it when you're dining in great restaurants around the world? Is it places you go? Is it when you go and, I don't know, go sailing or something like that? How do you find those moments of inspiration? I always try to interact with many people from all over the world. I try to travel when I can. I go to different restaurants, not necessarily all the high quality ones, sometimes like very like junky food and all this. Like these things always inspire me. Like, OK, so quality doesn't necessarily mean that you do so much work. Sometimes like the most simplest thing is the best thing.

7:29So like sometimes like when I encounter with these snacks that's sold in like convenience store in Japan, like sometimes it really inspires me. So it's not necessarily one or the other, but I always try to get inspiration from different experiences. Okay. Do you have a guilty pleasure? Yes. Hamburger? Is it always sweets? What would it be? I was thinking about sweets, to be honest. Well, hamburgers are sort of those things too. Because of my work, I tend to eat a lot of sweets and also food. You're in very good shape, I must say. Thank you. Thank you. But I always have to keep me in shape. So I try to control my food.

8:09But a lot of times, sometimes when a lot of butter is being used, a lot of cream is being used, it's actually pretty good. So especially I do Japanese sweets, which is mostly vegetarian. So sometimes when I eat those kind of sweets, it's sort of like a guilty pleasure. Okay. And if I could give you a superpower and you could eat limitless amounts of any sweets and it would never affect you, never get a belly what would what would that sweet be one would it would it be a toraya sweet or would it be something from somewhere else any amount any amount you can just go keep going for it what would you choose i i would say toraya sweets because you actually do get tired if you keep eating the similar things i love chocolates i love cakes i love things with diary and all this but when you eat a lot of it it gets you tired and tiring but then for something like you know Japanese sweets it's very much vegetarian and so you can sort of kind of continue to be eating it's like eating rice eating bread sort of a feeling so that's like something you want to be continuing to do like it's like running a marathon sort of an idea I would say if you want to go for western sweets or food it's more like you know running in a very fast pace that was Mitsuhara Kurokawa the president of Toraya Confectionary and you can find out more about the incredible history of the brand by heading to global.toraya-group.co.jp

9:55you're listening to the entrepreneurs up next we're talking about another business with the royal seal of approval and joining me to talk about them is the queen of the entrepreneurs the one and only laura kramer welcome to the show your highness why thank you tom so good to hear Now listen, I guess one of the sort of perks of doing this program is that we get to meet the best and brightest experts in so many different fields. It's a joy of the journalism we do generally, but of this show in particular. And I know that you conducted an interview just recently. Well, I guess, Laura, without putting words in your mouth, it checked quite a lot of those boxes.

10:32That's right. I met Johan Hellstrom. He's the CEO and owner of Bjorn Axien. It's a sustainable Swedish hair care brand, as you said, used by the Swedish royal family. And that's expanding. It's a very fascinating story. I do want to get into it because it is very strange in a way how he inherited it. But it's incredible. That said, what I found really amazing about the conversation, it changed the way I think about hair care. OK, now for people who have long hair like myself, we've always been told that conditioner is just for the ends of your hair, because otherwise it can weigh down your hair.

11:08And so you lose volume, which nobody really wants. However, Johan told me that's a myth. It doesn't apply if the product that you're using is a good product, which obviously theirs is. He says the skin on your scalp is the same as that on your face. So you have to treat it like skincare. So after you cleanse, usually at night, you then put moisturizer on and you should be doing the same with your conditioner. This is groundbreaking news. It's exciting. I know, Tom. Sorry. I don't think you realize how revolutionary this is. Lily, who recorded the interview, had her mind blown. Okay. Can I ask a question?

11:41What about, just throwing this out there, Laura, I don't know, hair care for, let's say, a gentleman of a certain age. Maybe, you know, you're thinking about a little thinning might be happening. Laura, I'm asking for a friend. Any tips? You know, I did ask this because I figured a friend might want to know about it. We talked about how stress is actually one of the biggest contributors to hair loss. He says it's responsible for up to 50 % of it. Stress is responsible. Yeah, that's right. So this friend of mine, I don't know, let's say he's busy running a radio station. Probably just needs to find alternative work.

12:22That's what you're telling me, Laura. Yeah, he might need to relax a bit, Tom, is the suggestion. Laura, should we hear from Johan? Yes, absolutely. I began, well, really speaking to him, as I said, about the start of the journey because it is like a film. I started and it was not really my meaning, but I was 18 years of age. I came to Bjornak Sien just to get information. So I ended up in an interview. The interview went so well with this woman that she said, Mr. Bjornak Sien wants to see you on Monday for a second interview. And obviously I sold myself good enough. So he actually said at the meeting, I wanted to start next Monday and be my personal assistant.

13:03And I mean, he was so famous. It was so big. And my mom was like, you cannot turn this down. But my dream was to become a musical artist. So I wanted to do that as well. So anyway, I did. I started. It was two years, almost three years, actually. And I took my exam. That went super well. But then I left Bjorn and I started my musical career. So with Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Sorba Cabaret, and I danced, you know, for years. 1993, Mr. Björn Axén was found dead in his home. It was a big tragedy. And I mean, it was all over the news. One week later, I'm standing in my kitchen and the phone rings.

13:43It was Björn Axén's lawyer. She introduced herself and she said, Johan, are you sitting down? And I was like, what? No, but now I'm sitting down. Are you aware that you are the universal inheritor of Björn Axiën's life achievement? I was like, what? And then she told me that you have inherited everything, including his name. Are you aware? And I was not because we never had dinner together. We never socialized. And this is the most amazing thing. So I was 18 years old. I just started as a trainee. I was folding towels. I was washing his clients, giving him rollers. He decided this guy is going to inherit everything, but I will never tell him.

14:23That's like out of a movie. I know. It's so crazy. And I mean, it was so much pressure also because I ended now up in every single magazine on the news. Who is this guy? You know, 27 years of age. And since we were purveyed to the royal family, it became quite big news. I have a lot of questions. I'm trying to understand. Well, what do you do with that information? What are the first steps? because I definitely want to find out where you taught in how to interact with the royal family. I'm sure you probably had lessons from somebody who came. From Mr. Bjornakseon in the beginning. I mean, I was two weeks at work and I followed him and assisted him.

15:06And my colleague also, Peter, was working for Bjornakseon at that time. And he was also helping Mr. Bjornakseon. So I knew how that worked. But I also had Peter next to me, my colleague. So he also helped out. But also at this point, you had been doing dance. As you said, you had stepped back from that world. And now you must be thinking, how the hell do I do this? What do I do now going forward? Absolutely. I mean, first of all, you know, just inheriting everything, that was a shock. But then I had my advisors, legal and financial advisors, and we went through what did I actually inherit. And it was a sinking ship with holes in the whole boat, and it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

15:46So my advisors actually said to me that, listen, Johan, with all due respect, but we think you should turn it down because we don't believe you can. Hmm. Now, that always triggers me. If something is really difficult, I mean, the brand was amazing. We had the royal stamp from the royal family. I thought we have to do this. And it took me really three seconds and I signed all the papers. And my colleague, I remember him saying, you know, well, what is the worst thing that can happen? And it can go bankrupt. And then we do that with a big orchestra and we drown ourselves in champagne. I love that.

16:21Yeah. I'm all for going down in style, if anything. But it didn't go down in style, did it? Because it came back up and you had to make some tough decisions along the way. Yeah. What was the most difficult one, you think? Well, I think at that point, I mean, I was grown up in a family that both my mom and dad had businesses. So I have the creative side and I also have the business side. And I do believe, looking back, that that was also the reason why Bjorn Axien saw me in that sense, because I always saw things that he could improve in the business. But I also gave him, this is how you could do it, and that would gain you money and so forth.

16:58So I guess that I took step by step in learning by also doing mistakes. I had loads of advisors that didn't always give me the best advice. I had to learn by doing. But I would say that it took time. But I think that the biggest challenge, actually, one of the biggest challenges was more recently when COVID hit. And we were doing quite well, but it went from 100 to zero in such a short period of time. So I was really worried to lose my life achievement and my baby. But then I remember that me and my CFO, I decided just let's just put the whole company on the parking lot and let's see what we put back.

17:40And I asked myself, if I would start the company today, would I do everything in the same way with the knowledge I have today? No, I would not. So we literally took the whole company apart and rebuilt it so it would be more sustainable. And I believe that every single company should do that. If you don't have a real crisis, maybe you should act like you had one and ask yourself these questions, because I think it's so important to reinvent. but also looking over the team, all your costs. And again, you know, what is your core? What is it that you're really selling? You know, take away everything else.

18:20Be clear, be clean and have a very good strategy going forward. You're right. So many people we speak to on the show, entrepreneurs especially, sometimes it takes a crisis for them to look at what the business is doing, where they could be doing better. And of course, they usually frequently get through it. But, you know, why not take the car in for what we say in the UK, an MOT, pop the hood, see what's happening in there. Yeah, no, no, completely. Really. And I think that if you are a brand, I mean, we are such a strong brand in Sweden. More than nine out of ten knows what Bjorn Axien is. You know, we have a brand recognition that's crazy.

18:56In UK, not so much yet. But soon it is now expanding into the UK. What has that been like? And why was now the moment that you thought this is a great time to enter this market and to push ourselves? Okay. So I will tell you, just like four years ago, during this COVID crisis, I had external owners. They had 28.2%. And we didn't always have the same vision going forward. And I decided, actually, as a friend told me, why don't you just buy them out? I said, how do you find a bank borrowing you a lot of money during the crisis? Well, if anyone can, you can. So I actually started to knock on doors to the banks.

19:35And then finally, I found a bank and I bought them out. Then I decided also to take over as CEO myself because I had external CEOs before. And I realized I need to do this my way. And then I gathered the team. And together, we built a very, very strong business plan to double the sales within three years, but keep the profit. It's quite tricky. A part of that strategy was also then to go global, to look over the brand, how we look, but also the product portfolio to meet the big global needs and then expand. So we went from two export markets to now 17. And one of our biggest priorities actually right now is UK.

20:17And so where are the outside of Sweden? What are the markets, the two that are doing really well, maybe the top three? Ukraine. Can you believe it? In two years, that's actually right now, today, year to date, is our biggest export market. Unbelievable. Yeah, I think the lipstick effect, and they love our brand for some reason. It's really, really amazing. I mean, we can speak a little bit more about the product. But for me, you know, it's all about a good quality product. And then we have a price level that's more affordable luxury. We want to give the end consumer a lot for their money. So I believe that, you know, the lipstick effect and the price level and the quality has been something that they really love.

21:04And they, since they have difficult times and they live in this war, they want at least to feel good about themselves. And really, you know, our mission is to sell well-being. And I guess they feel that it's a little bit, you know, well-being for them. Switzerland is doing very, very well. And I believe that we just actually entered into the Netherlands. And that will probably this year be our biggest export markets in just a year. You touched on the product there. And it is something absolutely I want to get into because all this is great, the brand knowledge. But it wouldn't be so incredible if it wasn't for a really solid product.

21:38I do have, well, I have actually a few. But right now here I have the hair oil here. The Miracle Hair Oil. The Miracle Hair Oil and the Repair Bonding Serum. Yeah. It's interesting because it takes your team three times longer to develop products than most other brands. Yeah. What happens? Why is that? And why is that so important to you? Okay, I want to very briefly touch based on what Bjorn Axien actually felt in 1984 when he launched his first product line. First of all, he thought that everyone should be able to afford professional hair care. So he opened up the premium segment. There was no hair care product, no professional products in department stores, perfumeries or pharmacies.

22:21So he did that. Already then he also wanted to think about the skinification trend. If the scalp is not healthy, you won't get a healthy hair. But also protective ingredients for heat, you know, caring ingredients in styling that actually makes your hair better. So that has been in our DNA ever since. and never have we gone to a producer and say, what products do you have? No, we make a brief for our products and they know also in the brief that we will do clinical tests and we will do consumer tests to 100 people for a month and that we need to get good results. So then the chemists, you know, we start to work together to create the products and this process is usually like one and a half to two years before we are done with a product.

23:12And I guess we are nerdy because for me, it's important that we have 80 hairdressers performing 65 ,000 treatments a year. We have maybe the most difficult clients in Sweden because we're quite expensive. So the collaboration between our hairdressers, me and the clients, when we develop the product is really fantastic. And how hands-on are you involved in that? Because now that you're CEO too, especially, you probably have to delegate more, step back a little bit. But that must be hard. It is your baby. I do delegate a lot, and I have the most amazing team. And we have two people working with product development.

23:51Without them, I could not do this, my whole team, really. But I am involved when it comes to the quality. So at the end, I will step in. When it comes to fragrances, when it comes to packaging, when it comes to how it looks, I will be there as well to make sure that we can sign off. You touched on the price point, and I do find it nice, heartwarming, that the Swedish royal family actually has a product that the rest of the people can actually afford because you would think, well, they have the most expensive and luxurious, but no, they choose this. And it has the royal warrant. What's it like knowing that your team styles the Swedish royal family?

24:28No pressure. No pressure, right? I mean, they all have such amazing hair to begin with, don't they? They do. And it's a wonderful family and it's a privilege to be able to work with them, of course. And yeah, we are very proud. And where do you mostly manufacture the products then? Is it all in Sweden? Do you have any? Almost everything in Sweden. We do have a former Swedish-owned factory in Poland as well that does all our packaging and some of our products. So we try to keep it as close to us as possible because, I mean, the whole sustainability question is, of course, in our DNA. and we have worked with that from the very beginning.

25:07And when you look back on what the company was and the values that it had at the time, and now you're trying to expand the brand, you're going more international, these different markets, what is your hope for the future? Where are some core differences that you've kind of changed or shifted? Is the sustainability the big one, do you think? I think sustainability is really big, but it comes from us. our vision at Bionaxian is to be a role model in professional hair care. So how are you a role model? You have to do everything as good as you can. And you know, you want people to look up to you. And our mission is to sell well-being.

25:45So I think that it comes from our heart. When we develop things, we really do it. And I have this beautiful old story from Bionaxian. And I will tell it now because he created this beautiful, you know, woman, the hair was amazing. And he asked me when he was done, how did I do? You know, do you like it? Did I do? Yeah. Did I make it kind of? And I said, yes, absolutely. It's fantastic. And the client looked all happy. And he said, well, I did not. And I was like, what? And the client looked weird, you know? And he said, you must understand that only if she comes back after six weeks looking like this, then I have succeeded.

26:23And I realized then that, oh my God, hairdressing is so much more. You know, if I understand your quality of hair, your bone structure, your needs, your knowledge of how to do your own hair, if I do the perfect haircut for that, and if I can give you the right products, how to use the products to understand, to be able to do what I have done, then I have succeeded. And for me, that becomes so holistic and it becomes a 360 perspective. I'm not here to fulfill my own ego. I'm here to fulfill yours. So this is important to understand. And this is what we try to do. And this is what we try to put in our products.

27:02And it's so nice when I sometimes have clients and I meet new clients and they say, oh, my God, for the first time in my life, after 60 years, I have the hair that I want. Well, I'm sorry we met so late. That was Johan Hellstrom, the owner and CEO of Bjorn Axion. And you can find out more by heading to beyondaxion.com.

27:33And that is all for this episode of The Entrepreneurs. We'll be back at the same time next week. Do look out for Eureka, available every Friday. The programme was produced by Laura Kramer with audio editing by Jack Dewars. You can listen again and find out more about the show at monocle.com. While you're there, why not subscribe to Monocle magazine and ensure you're reading more about better businesses every month. You can also follow us and catch up with the archive wherever you get your audio. And if you'd like to get in touch with the team, do email Laura. She's on lrk at monocle.com. I'm Tom Edwards.