BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Marion Witz
Elizabeth Grant International Inc.
E
lizabeth Grant Skin Care is a multimillion-dollar family affair and an international sensation.
Elizabeth Grant International Inc. is a successful, 60-plusyear-old skincare company that continues to evolve, based on its powerful and patented anti-aging ingredient – a blend of vitamins, proteins, botanicals and antioxidants that penetrate deepinto the skin helping to restore essential moisture, stimulate collagen and elastin production and repair damaged skin. It is the interesting story of Elizabeth Grant who worked as a makeup artist in a film studio in England and had loyal clients like Sean Connery, Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Noel Coward and other clients. They were soon asking her about her ‘skincare secret’ and she knew she had happened on something special. She perfected and patented “Torricelumn™” and her popular skincare products began selling at select luxury retailers such as Selfridges in London. And so Elizabeth Grant international’s multimillion-dollar skin beauty empire began in 1958.
Fast forward to 1995, when Elizabeth came to Canada to retire and her daughter-in-law, Marion Witz, joined the growing cosmetic company as president, and moved it to Canada. It was the early time of The Shopping Channel (TSC), using animated graphics to sell products. When it went live, Marion had an idea. “I realized that TSC would be a terrific platform to relaunch the Elizabeth Grant range of skincare products. So we did!” Margot Grant, Elizabeth’s granddaughter, joined the company in 2004 and is launching a range of beauty products aimed at a younger audience. “Margot has injected the brand with a new customer base and has resulted in a product that is often heralded as a ‘beauty favourite’ by top beauty and fashion editors around the world,” Marion says proudly and now has a worldwide following, including A-list clients like Jennifer Lopez, Rosario Dawson and Petra Nemcova. What started out as a small ‘mom and mom’ business has grown into a huge global company, now housed in a 200,000–square-foot facility in Ontario. The Elizabeth Grant story is a “beautiful” Canadian success story.
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EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013