Antonia and Jonny Philp are the husband-and-wife co-founders of Nursem, a skincare company dedicated to caring for the hands of healthcare professionals. The idea for the business came from Antonia’s experience as a newly qualified paediatric nurse, when the frequent handwashing required in clinical settings caused her to develop severe contact dermatitis and take time away from work.
Realising that many other healthcare professionals faced the same problem, Antonia and Jonny set out to create an effective hand cream without the harsh synthetic ingredients commonly found in skincare products.
They launched Nursem in 2012 with a mission to support those who care for others. Through the Nursem Promise, for every product sold, the company provides a month’s worth of free hand care to a nurse, midwife or other NHS healthcare professional. Nursem has so far delivered around 750,000 months of free hand care and is on track to fulfil its one-millionth Promise.
Alongside building the business, Antonia and Jonny are also parents to four children.
Highlights
It’s always been super important for us to build a brand with purpose.
The feeling of being able to give back to healthcare staff who we know have the same problem as what I had, and I see it still every day, it gives you that warm fuzzy feeling, but it also just helps drive what we’re doing.
You have to sort of reframe it as a blessing in disguise, because that’s the only way that you can look at it.
Those are the emotive stories that we get coming through, and it makes you feel like you are able to do more.
We’re still caring, but in a different way. Through what we’ve developed, we’re allowing people to continue on in their profession.