Dr Philippa McCaffery started her entrepreneurial journey, almost by chance, after becoming just a little disillusioned working first as a GP, and then as a hospital administrator in the public & private health system in Sydney. Nonetheless that early career experience stood her in good stead when she pivoted from public medicine to buying one single suburban skincare clinic, one of the first in Sydney doing laser hair removal. That first clinic was so overwhelmed with women clients needing help with unwanted body hair, that she and her new business partner Alarna Longes, a young uni graduate who came on board initially to help boost marketing, built up their business  -  not only doing hair removal by laser, but also offering a non-surgical, non-oral drug treatment for adult female acne. It proved to be a game-changer.

After years of hard work, with a few missteps along the way, the result was many many happy clients. 45 clinics later, the pair had built something substantial, and in mid-2018 they sold their cosmetic skincare clinic business to large ASX-listed company, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries for a cool $127million.

<p>Dr Philippa McCaffery started her entrepreneurial journey, almost by chance, after becoming just a little disillusioned working first as a GP, and then as a hospital administrator in the public &amp; private health system in Sydney. Nonetheless that early career experience stood her in good stead when she pivoted from public medicine to buying one single suburban skincare clinic, one of the first in Sydney doing laser hair removal. That first clinic was so overwhelmed with women clients needing help with unwanted body hair, that she and her new business partner Alarna Longes, a young uni graduate who came on board initially to help boost marketing, built up their business &nbsp;- &nbsp;not only doing hair removal by laser, but also offering a non-surgical, non-oral drug treatment for adult female acne. It proved to be a game-changer.</p>
<p>After years of hard work, with a few missteps along the way, the result was many many happy clients. 45 clinics later, the pair had built something substantial, and in mid-2018 they sold their cosmetic skincare clinic business to large ASX-listed company, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries for a cool $127million.</p>

Candid interviews with successful Self-starters. On Build It. They'll Come, you'll hear from some amazing Australian entrepreneurs who bet big to build great businesses. Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise. 

This podcast is about the human face behind taking a simple idea and turning it into a business or movement. It's the beating heart behind what it takes to build an empire, from concept to execution, and how they actually achieve it. Fuelled by blind faith and hard slog, how they transform their dream idea into concrete reality.

Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise.

Build It. They'll Come.

Clear Skincare Clinics founder Dr Philippa McCaffery on how she jumped from a GP and hospital administrator career to backing herself & buying a small suburban beauty clinic she then built into a cosmetic skincare clinic empire

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