Womans Magazine – Interview with Bhygienic’s Founder Vicki Allen about Think Pink

Womans Magazine – Interview with Bhygienic’s Founder Vicki Allen about Think Pink

Full Text of the Article:

VICKI ALLENS COMPANY RAISES MONEY AND AWARENESS OF CERVICAL AND OVARIAN CANCER

Vicki, 52, the founder of B Hygienic, says: I decided to start my own business after I had a disagreement with my boss. I set up B Hygienic as a smaller outfit, as I knew the industry needed a more personal service and I’d make sure I was always at the end of the phone if my clients needed me.

I’d always worked in the hygiene business, so in 1999 I started offering sanitary bins to offices, shopping centres – anywhere women needed them. One staff member followed me from my old company, so I had some help. I funded my business with savings and a loan, and a friend lent me a room to use as an office. Another friend lent me a car and I began working all hours to get my business off the ground. Luckily, because I had so much experience, I wasn’t fazed by it all.

The first three years were tough, but business picked up in 2001. I got some good clients like the Manchester MEN Arena. We now provide different kinds of products – air fresheners, loo rolls and soap. Six years ago I got my own premises – and I now employ 25 people.

Two years ago I was coming up to my 50th birthday and decided to invite 50 people who’d been part of my life to come to a party. When I first began in this business, I’d been very close friends with a lady called Lesley, but we’d lost touch and I hadn’t seen her for 18 years. I was desperate to share my special day with her, and managed to track her down.

I was devastated to learn that she’d developed ovarian cancer, but she and her doctors were determined to beat it. After my birthday we spoke regularly and I visited Lesley the weekend before her death. I was shocked and saddened, and It left me wanting to do something in the washroom industry to make a difference.

I checked out the statistics on women’s cancers and on how many go for smears. Online cancer research sites said that 950 women a year die from cervical cancer in the UK. It occurred to me that in our busy lives, we all take a tiny bit of time out when we go the loo at work – and hit upon the idea of getting pink bins into ladies’ toilets. We all link pink with cancer awareness, so it seemed one way to get women thinking about their next appointment for a smear or to think about checking their breasts. I called my idea the ‘Think Pink’ campaign.

It didn’t take me long to find a company to make the units and I had stickers made too, saying, ‘now you’ve got a minute to yourself, remember to get checked out.’ For every pink unit I sold, £5 went to charities for women’s health. I started talking about and showing the pink units to my clients in 2009, and the uptake has been good. We’ve got them installed in a shopping centre and school and at two stately homes, Chatsworth and Althorp House.

Lesley’s family know what we’ve been doing and support our campaign. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved and hope that by someone seeing one of our stickers, we can save a life. My dream is to turn all washrooms pink! Women are the centre of every family, and through this simple message we can save lives. I know someday soon, someone will say – if it wasn’t for the pink bin and the message I might not be here…