Deb Farnworth-Wood is the founder of the Australian Skin Clinics Franchise which she grew from 1 to 60 clinics in five years (across Australia and New Zealand) before exiting in 2019.
Born in the UK she moved to Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast in 2007. She is an MBA graduate, a Certified Franchise Executive, and a serial entrepreneur. She has incredible vision and passion for the aesthetics industry where she has immersed herself for 15 years but has over 30 years of experience in the management of large, complex, and multi-disciplinary healthcare organizations, including pharmacy, GP Services, surgical facilities, dietetics, podiatry, nurse practitioners, counseling and secondary care services. She also has significant experience in the multi-outlet retail sector having held a variety of store and head office roles in Debenhams as well as big shed DIY and home furnishings retailers.
Deb has participated in strategic think tanks for the Prime Minister’s Office of public reform (in the UK under the Blair government), as well as consumer feedback initiatives and her work on GP Night co-operative models influenced the 1993 national GP contract for the UK.
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In 2019 she purchased an organic skincare business – Valor Organics which manufactures organic skincare and beard care for men www.shavewithvalor.com. In 2020, mid the COVID pandemic, she also purchased Issada Cosmetics, a well-known Australian mineral makeup brand and the same year launched Issada Clinical formula skincare.
Deb also has a track record of business disruption. She was the first non-GP to become a partner in General Practice in the UK and in doing so changed the rules for a wave of managing partners that followed, she opened the first drive-through pharmacy in England and with her doctor business partners became the first non-pharmacist group to be permitted to open a UK independent pharmacy.
In 2007 Deb made the momentous decision to sell her UK businesses, move across the world to Australia with her family and “retire” aged 44. After a brief spell of relaxation, she realised that she had more goals to kick and set about building another successful business, with no network, no contacts, and as an anonymous new arrival in Australia.
Deb describes the next 10 years as the most difficult yet exciting of her life during which time she studied franchising, and built a successful franchise brand, a shopfitting company, and an equipment supply company. She also founded an RTO and turned around an ailing skincare company.