Susie Ma

Susie Ma is a British-Chinese skincare entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is best known for her appearance on the seventh series of the BBC television series ''The Apprentice'' in 2011 where, despite coming in third place, she secured investment from Alan Sugar. Her company, Tropic Skincare has been cited as one of the fastest-growing brands in the UK, with annual revenue of £90.6 million.

As of March 2025, the Sunday Times estimated her net worth at £73 million.

Career

2010–11: ''The Apprentice''

Susie Ma was one of the final three contestants on the seventh series of ''The Apprentice'' but lost to winner, inventor Tom Pellereau.

Tropic Skincare remains the only business run by an Apprentice runner-up, to have gone on to secure investment from Lord Sugar. He invested £250,000 for a 50% stake in Tropic in 2012.

2012–present: Tropic Skincare

On 4th May 2013, Susie Ma and Sugar launched Tropic's Ambassador programme, a direct-selling model that allows people to earn commission through selling Tropic products. As of 2025, there are over 20,000 Ambassadors across the UK. Tropic empowers its Ambassadors through training and events. Every September, Tropic hosted its annual 'Glammies' event for thousands of Ambassadors, in Birmingham, England. The event celebrates the achievements of Ambassadors, connects them with each other and launches new products. The large-scale production has included performances from the likes of Heather Small and Sydnie Christmas. In May 2025, Tropic provided training to its Ambassadors in detecting early signs of skin cancer, in partnership with melanoma-awareness charity Skcin.

In 2016, Tropic received the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track's 'Emerging Brand' award. From 2016 to 2022, Tropic has also been recognised as one of the fastest growing privately-owned companies in the UK in the Sunday Times Hundred league table (formerly known as The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table).

In 2018, Tropic was featured in The London Stock Exchange's book of 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain for 2019.

The business located to a new 48,000 sq. ft. premises in June 2019 to accommodate their rapidly expanding manufacturing requirements and workforce. As of 2024, Susie Ma employs over 300 at Tropic's Surrey HQ, where the brand manufactures its freshly made skincare and beauty formulations.

2021 accounts showed sales of £90.6 million.

In the last filed accounts, for 2023, Tropic reported a turnover of over £62.3 million, with profits of £6.7m.

In April 2023, Susie Ma regained full ownership of Tropic, buying back Lord Sugar's shares in the business for an undisclosed sum. Susie commented on the news, "After founding the company at just fifteen, and spending every day since building it into the success you see today, reclaiming full ownership has always been my ambition. I am beyond excited for the infinite possibilities the future holds, and to continue making a positive impact on the planet with our natural, freshly made formulations and inspiring Ambassadors."

Personal life and early career

Susie Ma was born in Shanghai, China, and her family later relocated to Cairns, Australia in 1996. She settled in London, UK in 2002.

In 2004, at the age of 15, Susie Ma began making a body scrub using a recipe she learnt from her grandmother. Using a blend of sea salts, macadamia oils and lemon myrtle essential oils packaged in jam jars, she created a body scrub and sold it at Greenwich Market in London to help her mother pay the bills. Susie attended Croydon High School for Girls from 2002 to 2007. In the evenings, she took cosmetic formulation courses to extend her knowledge and Tropic's product range. She initially made the products in her kitchen at home, and sold them on weekends at markets around London. Later, in 2007, she attended University College London and graduated in 2010 with a 2:1 Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Economics, followed by an FX Sales and Trading internship at Citigroup.

In 2024, Susie Ma became a mother to a daughter.

Philanthropy

Susie Ma created Tropic's Infinite Purpose: to help create a healthier, greener, more empowered world. This includes donating 10% of profits to charities and good causes.

Tropic, its Ambassadors and customers have funded 6.8 million days of education for children in remote parts of the world, in partnership with charity UWS. It has also opened four schools - in Nepal, Cambodia and Madagascar, which Susie has visited. In 2023, Tropic created a 'Give Back Friday' campaign, which led to funding over 70,000 additional school days. The event was repeated in 2024, with its target of 80,000 days being achieved.

After attending a King's Trust (formerly The Prince's Trust) event in 2023, Susie committed Tropic to a four-year patronage of its Women Supporting Women initiative, which helps disadvantaged young women and girls to access training, advice and education to help them secure jobs and meaningful careers.

Tropic also supports Resilient Reefs Foundation (formerly Reef Restoration Foundation), with whom it is growing a baby coral nursery in the Great Barrier Reef, close to where Ma grew up, in Cairns, Australia. Tropic also supports Trussel (formerly The Trussel Trust) and the Winnie Mabaso Foundation.

Susie Ma has also taken on several Strive Challenges, raising funds for Big Change - a charity that helps young people thrive in life, not just exams - by completing endurance expeditions alongside Sir Richard Branson and other business leaders.

Awards and accolades

In March 2025, Susie Ma appeared at number nine on the inaugural The Sunday Times Beauty Rich List, with an estimated personal worth of £73m.

The Sunday Times listed Susie Ma as one of the 40 richest people in the UK under 40 in May 2024.

In 2024, Susie Ma appeared on J.P Morgan's Top 200 Women-Powered Businesses Report and EY's SuperScalers Report.

Susie Ma won an EY Entrepreneur Award for 'Building a Better Working World' in 2018 and was selected as an Outstanding Entrepreneur at the Global Business Excellence Awards. She was also chosen for the Startups.co.uk Young Guns Class of 2018.

Susie Ma was 'Highly Commended' for the Natural Health Awards 'Holistic Hero' for two years running (2018-2019), and in 2019 was chosen as one of Management Today's 35 Women Under 35.

Susie Ma won 3 Stevie Awards for Women in Business in 2016, with a further 5 awards also won in 2017. In January 2018, she secured a place on 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, in the Retail and E-commerce category for her work with Tropic Skincare, and acted as a judge for 2019's list of honourees.

Susie Ma's business, Tropic Skincare, has won over 400 industry awards, from the likes of GLAMOUR, woman&home, Beauty Shortlist and CEW. In 2022, it won a Marie Claire Prix D'Excellence award for 'Beauty Gives Back', to recognise its impact in empowering through education for its partnership with charity UWS.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Susan
1988 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Shanghai
Businesspeople from London
People educated at Croydon High School
Alumni of University College London