We quickly outgrew pallets and moved straight to containers

The willingness to take risks and go all-in, combined with a mission to offer quality products for children without harmful chemicals, is the secret behind FB Trading’s success. Behind the anonymous name lies a triple-digit million turnover and well-known children’s brands such as Mushie and Frigg.

FB Trading stands for Family Business Trading and is driven by a passion for providing children with the best possible beginning in life and making things easier for parents who want quality products without harmful chemicals at an affordable price. The company is owned and operated by Henrik and Annette Tøth Jensen, who have a clear ambition to rank the top 3 most-sold baby items worldwide. 

“We want to be among the top three globally before we reach 2030. Today, we are somewhere between the top 5-10, but it is undoubtedly a realistic goal if we continue our current development,” says Henrik Tøth Jensen.

The past few years, in particular, have seen rapid growth. In 2020, the couple entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with the American children’s brand Mushie for territories outside North America, and in 2021, they launched the Frigg pacifier, which is 100% Danish-made and free from harmful chemicals.

“We have taken big risks and we haven’t been afraid to make mistakes, and I undoubtedly believe we have filled a gap in a growing market. Today, we sell our products in more than 121 countries, and since 2020 we have grown from 10 employees to 200 spread across the globe,” says Henrik.

From idea to million-kroner revenue

It all started back in 2011 when Annette Tøth Jensen stumbled upon a comment online from a frustrated mother looking for pacifiers free of BPA, PVC, and phthalates. Annette, a mother of two herself, quickly recognized the frustration of being a new parent and felt drawn to the issue.

“It’s hard enough being new parents. At the very least, you should be able to expect that the products you buy are free of harmful substances, but that wasn’t the case 11 years ago. I threw myself into extensive research, which led me to create the website ‘Sunde Sutter’ (Healthy Pacifiers), where I initially sold chemical-free pacifiers from carefully selected suppliers,” says Annette.

Annette originally trained as a social worker but quit her job after a few years to run the site full-time. In 2019, Henrik joined her, leaving his job as an accountant to become part of the business. Although Sunde Sutter now only accounts for a small part of FB Trading’s triple-digit-million-kroner turnover, it still exists and continues to help many parents effectively.

“Sunde Sutter is an important part of our beginning and mission. We want to help parents choose quality products without harmful chemicals, and that is a crucial part of our philosophy. That was also the potential that drew me into the business. There were so many opportunities to expand the core idea into other areas, and that is exactly what we have initiated with our own production of pacifiers and our collaboration with Mushie,” says Henrik.

The biggest challenge is capacity

What particularly characterises FB Trading is the determination to succeed and the belief in their own products. Henrik and Annette have therefore continuously invested heavily in materials, human resources, and products.

“We have been willing to take risks and ready to go all-in because we believe in our business concept and our products. We have invested in growth, and we quickly moved from pallets to containers instead. The biggest challenge has actually been that we have outgrown our facilities,” says Henrik.

To avoid putting growth on hold, the couple decided to contact kompasbank to seek additional financing for expanding capacity. Shortly after, they met with Allan Sørensen, a business customer manager at kompasbank.

“We had a really good meeting with Allan. It was very clear that he understood our business and needs. It went extremely quickly from idea to meeting to an actual offer. It meant a lot to us at the time, so we could take advantage of the growth opportunities we had initiated with our strategy,” says Henrik.

FB Trading has used the loan, among other things, to invest in new robots for pacifier production and to purchase a new site so that the company can expand physically.