Ex-West Bromwich Albion star Thomas Hal Robson-Kanu now employs 40 people at his health business The Tumeric Co which produces the natural shots which he credits with saving his career.
The product is now being used widely by the general public, athletes and sporting teams including Liverpool, Spurs, Everton, Celtic, Brentford and England Rugby.
Speaking about his journey from the football pitch to the boardroom on the Lightning 50 E-Commerce Growth Hacking Podcast, Robson-Kanu said he was thrilled by the results of clinical trials on his natural tumeric products.
He said:
“We have just finished our first clinical trials on our range. The fact that we have really begun to validate our product range through clinical research is really big for us.
“The main headline finding is that there was a 75% reduction in inflammation in the blood when using the product. We were high fiving when that finding came through, but we were also conscious that that was not something which the big pharmaceutical companies would be pleased about because it is a natural product.
“Everything stems from nutrition. We are creating awareness and visibility of the power of natural nutrition.”
Robson-Kanu said the brand was growing fast this year and it is planning to move into retail and boost its product range.
The company is based at a new site in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire which includes a research and development laboratory as well as production facilities.
Over the past two years, he has built a manufacturing facility to British Retail Consortium global standards which are the highest in the world and which will enable The Tumeric Co to make products for other brands.
It currently produces around 150,000 shots a week for the Tumeric Co but they have the manufacturing capacity to produce 1 million a week – so they could accommodate lots more manufacturing and introduce a new revenue stream to the business.
Robson-Kanu set up The Tumeric Co in 2018 when he was 29 and playing football internationally for Wales and in the Premiership for West Bromwich Albion.
He famously scored the winning goal for Wales against Belgium which secured his country a place in the semi-finals of the 2016 Euros.
He combined both careers for three years – running the business in his down-time when he had finished training from 1pm onwards most days.
Robson-Kanu chose to walk away from football in 2021 despite being offered new playing contracts by Nottingham Forest and teams all over the world because he wanted to concentrate on business.
Robson-Kanu said:
“I set up the business when I was still playing. We were generating millions in revenue and impacting positively on the lives of thousands of people through our products but it was tough combining the two careers.
“Running the business has been a huge task – building an infrastructure to take us to a global level. There is no way I would have been able to establish the business in the way I have over the past two years if I had still been playing.
“I have had to adapt after being told where to go and what to do at the highest level of professional sport, but I felt running the business was a once in a life opportunity and something really unique.”
He said his football career benefitted from running a business in his spare time and the game needs to be doing more to encourage players to develop outside interests.
Robson-Kanu explained:
“It is a disgrace that there is not an infrastructure in place to do more to help ex-players.
“You look at a lot of footballers and they will finish training at 1pm and then they will spend the next 14 hours playing FIFA on a games console until 3am in the morning.
“I was choosing to focus my energy on a business which I was passionate about rather than killing time playing FIFA.”
What is the biggest buzz – landing a big deal in business or scoring at the Euros?
Robson-Kanu said:
“They are both equally rewarding. Obviously it was amazing to score in the Euros but now I get just as big a buzz out of knowing that I am improving the lives of tens of thousands of people through my products.”
* Robson-Kanu talks about his journey from the football pitch to the boardroom on the Lightning 50 E-Commerce Growth Hacking Podcast
