The Story Behind EcoBeo: An Interview with Founder Owen

EcoBeo is a small independent Irish business based in Cavan, bringing together thoughtful gifts, home fragrance, self-care products and sustainable finds from smaller makers and suppliers.

But EcoBeo didn't start with a perfectly mapped-out business plan. Like many small businesses, it has evolved along the way.

We sat down with EcoBeo founder Owen to find out where the idea came from, why sustainability matters, what it is really like running a small business and where he hopes EcoBeo might go next.

What made you want to start your own business?

I've always wanted to run my own business. A few years ago I actually started a website called OnlyGoodNews.

The idea was that there is so much bad news around that brings you down, so I wanted to create somewhere people could go for good news instead. It turns out good news doesn't sell very well, and it's also a lot harder to find than bad news!

The idea of having my own business never really went away. Eventually my wife Emma and I started thinking about what we were both interested in and passionate about, and sustainability kept coming up.

So where did EcoBeo come from?

We both love candles, wax melts, soaps and bath salts, so we started thinking about whether we could build something around finding good, sustainable products from smaller businesses and bringing them together in one place.

That became EcoBeo.

To be honest, I didn't really know exactly what EcoBeo was going to be when we started. The original idea was more of a one-stop eco shop where you could buy all sorts of sustainable products.

Pretty quickly, though, we noticed that candles and gifting products were where people were most interested, so we started expanding that side of the business.

Once we had a good range of products, creating gift sets seemed like the obvious next step. We wanted to take some of the hassle out of gifting and make it easy for people.

Need a little thank you for someone? Wouldn't ya know, we have a gift set for that. Need to relax? We've got you covered. Want to slow down for an evening? You guessed it!

Why is sustainability important to you?

As I've gotten older and more aware of the world around me, I've moved towards a way of thinking where I'm happier to spend more on something that is good quality and will last rather than buying cheap and often.

I'm also moving more towards buying local and away from mass-produced products where I can.

Emma is even more committed to the circular economy than I am. She very rarely buys anything new and is always looking for second-hand things. You'd be amazed at what you can find.

I'm a big rugby fan and one day I went into a thrift store and came out with three Irish jerseys for €2 each. I haven't had a win like that since!

We try to bring that thinking into EcoBeo too. We look for products that fit with what we believe in and, where possible, move away from unnecessary plastic and non-natural ingredients.

For example, some of the candles we stock are hand poured in Meath using natural wax and essential oils.

How do you find the small businesses and makers you work with?

This is probably one of the hardest parts of the business.

We don't want products that you can buy everywhere. We want to find the smaller makers and businesses that are doing something really good but might not have a huge audience yet.

The problem is that the smaller businesses are harder to find because they are small and, in many cases, relatively unknown. If you Google something like eco candles Ireland, it's generally the bigger brands that appear.

Our approach is usually to place a small order first. That gives us products to test ourselves and also lets us put them on the site and see how people respond.

And honestly, one of the best parts of the business is getting a package with a load of new products in it. We love testing them, especially that first smell of a new candle.

Our son Robin loves smelling all the candles too. I often let him pick a candle when we're giving a gift to someone. He has great taste!

What has surprised you most about running EcoBeo?

When I started the business, I don't think I thought enough about the social media side of things.

Trying to be creative with social media is tough, and I think you really do need good social media these days to grow a business.

I'm still not comfortable putting my face in front of the camera. I was sending a voice note into the radio one day and it took me 38 goes. I still wasn't happy with it!

I think that's probably one of the hardest parts of running a small business. You're not just selling products, you're also the face and voice of the brand.

People like to get to know the people behind a business, so something like this is actually really valuable to us because it lets people get to know a little bit more about who is behind EcoBeo.

Have you done many markets?

Not yet. We haven't actually done any markets, although we're hoping to do one this Christmas.

Putting yourself out there is probably the biggest challenge for me. We're only about a year into the business and we're still extremely small, so there is a lot we're figuring out as we go.

What would you like EcoBeo to become?

Realistically, I don't know if EcoBeo will ever replace my day job, but that is the dream.

I'd love to have created something that people recognise. If someone thinks, "I need to get a gift for someone," I'd love them to think, "I bet EcoBeo would have something for me."

I'd also love to have more small Irish brands on the site. I'd like to keep discovering new makers and bringing their products to a wider audience.

I'd love to do some pop-up shops in different places around the country too. I don't know if a physical shop will ever make sense for us, but it would certainly be nice.

What's next for EcoBeo?

We won't stop expanding the range, and we're also looking at creating some of our own products, which is something I'm really excited about.

At the moment, we're still very much at the beginning of the journey. We're learning as we go, discovering new makers and working out what people want from EcoBeo.

Why buy from EcoBeo?

When you buy from EcoBeo, you're not just supporting one small Irish business. You're supporting all of the suppliers and makers we work with.

We've spent time finding these products and bringing them together so that customers don't have to go searching for them individually.

We want to keep expanding that range and hopefully introduce people to small Irish businesses and products they might never have found otherwise.

That's really what EcoBeo is about. Finding good products, supporting smaller businesses and making it easier to find a thoughtful gift without having to search all over the place.

We're only a year in, but we're enjoying the journey and we're excited to see where it goes.