KEY POINTS:
A former schoolteacher and his wife ventured to Auckland with dreams of starting their own business.
In the process, they discovered that classroom skills transplanted to the business world, coupled with sheer determination, can be a recipe for success.
When Greg and Sue Sweeney decided to move to Auckland from the Bay of Plenty, Sue wasn't keen on the idea.
Initially, Greg Sweeney thought of going into property development, but the market was in a slump.
He then took on a few small building jobs before buying his wife's cousin's business, which operated a machine that blew wool into lofts for insulation.
Ten years later, they have shaped Eco Insulation into a business noted not only for its focus on the bottom line but also for its environmental and social messages.
The company provides a range of insulation material and solutions, including its flagship product, ecofleece - a wool-polymer blend used in the walls, floors and ceilings of houses and commercial buildings.
Greg Sweeney's first innovation was born out of necessity, after he was faced with the difficulties associated with blowing bits of loose wool into lofts and walls. He approached a textile manufacturer to help to "patch" the wool into thick thermal blankets and launched his first product in the late 1990s.
While the product was right, the market wasn't ready to pay the high premium to buy it.
His cost advantage came when he took up the offer from a manufacturer of pure wool carpets to use the leftover bits in his product.
In one fell swoop, Sweeney gained price competitiveness as well the chance to market the message that Eco Insulation was helping to recycle unwanted wool fibre.
He has intensified the green message since then.
Another lucky break came when he attended a business meeting and met a Housing New Zealand (HNZ) representative. This led to Eco Insulation helping HNZ to insulate 500 homes over a few years. To date, Eco Insulation has provided insulation to more than 12,000 homes nationwide, including 7000 HNZ homes.
Sweeney is now looking forward to getting work from the Snug Homes project, a community cause aimed at reducing respiratory problems in children by providing free insulation to lower-income families.
Eco Insulation is no longer small. It is a medium-sized business with a staff of 90 people. The company's strong green message and the products' safety are great marketing levers.
Its products are competing head-on with the Goliath of the industry, Tasman Insulation, with its Pink Batts range of products.
But Sweeney is not deterred, even though he has found it hard to get his products into mainstream hardware and building supply stores, which belong to the big boys in the construction industry.
Growth has come despite Eco Insulation's recycled wool insulation product being priced about 10 per cent above conventional insulation.
As well as building a multi-million-dollar business, the couple were also the Supreme winner of this year's Westpac Enterprise North Shore Business Excellence Award. Eco Insulation also picked up the Smales Farm Excellence in Environmental Management award.
Sales have risen by more than 400 per cent in the past five years. This includes a small contribution from exports to Japan.
To maintain Eco Insulation's growth trajectory, Sweeney aims to focus on the sheep farming community to encourage them to use his environmentally friendly product for their insulation needs. Then there is the export market to grow.
He is also positioning Eco Insulation as a solutions company for insulation needs. He is acutely aware of the onslaught of competition and is diversifying into other energy-efficient products such as solar heating, heat pumps and low-energy lighting systems.
He has also started converting his distributors - one each in Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Wellington - into franchisees and is about to start marketing his franchise system nationally.
What Sweeney lacked in formal business training, he made up through meticulous planning, organisational acumen and marketing savvy.
He has spent countless hours and a lot of money creating the company's corporate image: its logo, colours, advertising material, website, product appraisals and technical manuals.
One of the most time-consuming things he did was to gain accreditation for his products. This foresight gave him an advantage as builders and architects can specify the product in their plans.
He is also intensifying the company's commitment to fostering green practices through the Enviro-Mark programme and the New Zealand Green Building Council.
Regardless of all these successes, life as a small businessman has its hard knocks. Once, he spent $60,000 on business process software before making the painful decision to pull the plug.
"I had to say, 'Stop. We can't do this any more.' The project was never completed, the software never used," he recalls.
At times, he had to go back to teaching to generate cashflow while Sue Sweeney ran the business. Once, he finished a job in Remuera at 3am. "It was a cold, frosty morning. Unfortunately, the truck had a flat battery, so I had to walk about 5km to find a phone to ring Sue, who had to get out of bed to come and collect us cold, tired, hungry guys at 4am."
These days, he is no longer the best salesperson for his product at home shows. His workers do a better job.
Energy Plus
* Eco Insulation was founded 10 years ago.
* Now has 90 staff.
* Selling points include use of natural waste product to make insulation.
* Has supplied insulation to more than 12,000 homes.
* Has also branched out into other energy-efficient products.
* Now turning to franchising to distribute its products.
