We spoke to Annie Gibbs, Founder & Director of Amour Destiné CIC and asked her to tell us about her business and how it came into being…

Amour Destiné, French for "Love your Destiny", is a community interest company that aims to improve the socio-economic status of black women in the UK.

We aim to achieve this by helping women affected by, but not limited to bereavement, mental health issues, domestic abuse & sexual violence, immigration problems and care experiences, work towards building the lives they desire. By accessing advocacy support from Amour Destiné, women are able to address the various challenges they may be facing such as no recourse to public funds, family law access and mediation. We also provide a one-to-one and group educational mentoring workshops led by inspiring women and girls.  Amour Destiné helps women develop confidence and self-belief which will enable and encourage them to live out their ambitions to succeed in life.

Amour Destiné provides the platform which has united and inspired many to connect, collaborate, exchange resources and empowered some to test their business ideas through our partners’ events & workshops.

Amour Destiné began as a voluntary pilot program, borne out of my own passion and lived experience of overcoming the loss of my mother at the age of 8 years of age and being placed in care. This experience led me to want to get more involved and to give back to my community. I have, as a result of the pilot program and demands from women seeking my advice and counsel on various issues such as employment, career advice and immigration issues, organically formalised what I have been offering the ladies and therefore, launched a 12-month Destiny Creators Mentoring Programme & Advocacy service in Lambeth & Greenwich. I managed to gather information through digital surveys and feedbacks harvested from mentee workshops regarding how the service has benefited them.  I find the feedback information very important as it is my passion to provide a tailored service which meets the specific needs of my clients on the program.

The results from a survey conducted in 2019 reported that 78.4% of women preferred to have more one-to-one coaching/mentoring support.  72% reported that they really enjoyed the networking opportunities Amour Destiné offered with 36.4% wanting this to be more than once a year and the other 36.4% preferred three times a year.  As a result of this feedback, we have developed our Destiny Creators programme to provide a combination of monthly virtual group sessions as well as face-to-face group sessions.

As well as being the Director of Amour Destiné, I am a board member for a community forum in Greenwich and Director of Treasury for a black female-led frontline domestic abuse service provider in Croydon. These positions have enabled me to hear and to understand the needs of women affected by socio-economic problems in and around London. Information collected and collated from digital surveys and workshop participant feedback questionnaires has enabled me to further shape the programme. Acknowledging the voices of women in need of support has improved the services offered by Amour Destiné. In the past year and a half, over one hundred participants have been willing to contribute in providing feedback comments.

Furthermore, we have a good social media engagement with one thousand, two hundred and fifty five followers across a number of platforms where we have conducted polls and utilised questions to further develop our mission to meet the needs of our community.

We work collaboratively with local groups, organisations and individuals to address social economic issues affecting the quality of women’s lives.  This enables us to ascertain the needs of their beneficiaries through digital surveying.

Why did you want to start up a business? What was your motivation?

Amour Destiné was formed as a result of losing my mother at the age of 8 years to HIV as well as the experience of learning to push past my own challenges in life growing through the UK care system. I wanted to create a support service for black women to break through barriers and to build on my late mother’s legacy. I had been bothered throughout my life when I think about the struggles my mother faced during my childhood, being passed from service to service because of her Malian heritage, having encountered language barriers because she could not speak English.  My mother had no family in the UK. She was a survivor of domestic abuse and did not have a supportive network to fall on. I remember her struggles and having only one or two friends.  

My ambition and desire had always been to make a difference in the lives of black women surviving abuse. My current frustration now is to find that the difficulties my mother faced in the past are still existent in the 21st century. It is my mission therefore, to ensure that any woman who reaches out to our service does not feel isolated and unsupported like my mother did. In addition, it is my desire to make knowledge and information accessible to all women who reach out to Amour Destiné. The Amour Destiné platform provides services to equip and empower women succeed to overcome obstacles that life throws at them. To all black women, Amour Destiné says, “Your Chapter does not end there” and that “You own the rights to create your own destiny”.

How did the SiLL project help you in setting up your business?

I attended the side hustle to business workshop at Woolwich library on International Women's Day, delivered by Loretta Awuah, who I am grateful has now become my mentor! She provided me with the details of the SiLL programme virtual workshops: ‘What next for my business idea?’, ‘Get ready for business’ and ‘Marketing Masterclass’. I felt I had nothing to lose so I decided to register and to attend the sessions with the view of developing my understanding and knowledge surrounding intellectual property and marketing. To launch a product that I could use as part of my workshops and to improve the sustainability of my project ideas that I had been testing in the community.

After attending the workshops mentioned above, I have since had several 1:1 sessions with my mentor, Loretta. She helped me see how valuable my work is and to overcome the fear of the unknown.  By breaking down the various elements of the services I was offering and what my project needs were, I was able to develop and progress it further. She also encouraged me to take the next step to register my project as a community interest company and encouraged me to pursue funding opportunities. The SiLL programme has also helped me to connect with various individuals/organisations.

What was the most helpful part of the SiLL project for you?

I found all of the projects incredibly helpful. Loretta’s 1:1 mentoring support, as well as the workshops, have helped me to enhance my knowledge of business. It is difficult to pinpoint one element because all the sessions were helpful and they equipped me to move my ideas forward. If I have to, I would say, launching my product and services. For me, the most helpful part of the SiLL programme was the workshop on intellectual property. As a result of this I was able to gain a better understanding of how to protect my ideas. The sessions facilitator even followed up with me afterwards with answers to a few of my questions that helped me make my decisions to launch my hand-painted African print wellbeing boxes on Etsy.

Can you tell us a bit about Loretta and the Greenwich Business Community that is coming as a part of SiLL?

Loretta’s support has been invaluable. From the first time I met her on International Women’s Day to present, she has been so encouraging and very open to book 1:1 sessions with her. Her knowledge, patience and genuine interest in my business has been invaluable. She has connected me to various individuals in the Borough and helped me to identify my opportunities. Just knowing that I have someone who cares, that I can email with any questions no matter how silly I may feel about asking and sharing good news makes me super grateful. It makes the process of growing my community interest company and navigating things easier. She has also referred an individual to my service in need of support which reassures me further that she believes in my work.

What advice would you give anyone looking to start up a business?

If you are reading this and you are at a place in life where you are considering using your passions, talents and purpose to start a business, I would say the best part is already done. The fact that you have the idea is the beginning of great things. Explore your idea by gaining support from a programme like the SiLL programme to discover what is possible for you and your ideas. Know that all great things have to start somewhere.  It is useful to know that there is no right or wrong way to achieve your dreams.  Your business ideas are deeply personal to you.  They are not supposed to be perfect so allow yourself to grow from what you experience and that it is YOUR journey. Don't allow anything to stop you!

What are the key things you have learnt while starting up your business?

Since launching my business I have learnt many things along the way. The key things I am grateful for learning are that it's so important to ask others for help. Especially in the very early stages you will need others. There is always someone who will know the answer to your questions. But you will not know unless you ask. The least that will happen is that they will say no, or they don't know how they can help.

Find people who you can collaborate with and whose purpose is aligned with yours. You do not have to say yes to everything. As not all things are going to be for you and your business.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Life is for growing and it is alright to try something or a few ideas as this is the only way that you are truly going to know what works best for your business.

Prioritise time for yourself to do the things that offer you happiness and joy. This could be spending time with people that you care about, or time out to read or go for a swim. Whatever this looks like for you, please ensure you develop the habit of practicing self-care.

Above all don't forget why you started and who you stand for. So that you maintain a healthy, loving, balance between yourself and your business.

What would you say to anyone looking to go to a SiLL workshop/talk to their local SME Champion?

If you are considering joining a SiLL workshop/talk go for it. You have nothing to lose. You will find others on the programme that are on various stages of their business journeys to yourself as well as those at a similar stage. You will learn so much from each other. The facilitators are very welcoming and every session is open to asking plenty of questions. So be intentional with your time when you attend to gain maximum support from the sessions. You won't regret it!

 

Amidst all the uncertainty of 2020, becoming an Ambassador for the British Library's Business & IP Centre has been a definite highlight, and it caused me to reflect upon my lifetime journey with books and learning.

I remember libraries vividly as a child. The distinctive smell of beeswax polished wood and slightly musty odour of much borrowed books – I particularly liked the way the pages seemed to soften the more they were thumbed and read. I wasn’t so keen on the plastic protective covers that used to crack with age and scratch my fingers. I also remember the pleasing silence of the library and the squeak of the wooden floor boards as I explored new categories, each one a new world to me. My favourites were history, biology and fiction. At one point I was reading up to nine books a week. Sitting on the purple boucle sofa at home with a pile of them by my side, I would devour each title until the pile had disappeared and I had an excuse to go back and get more. I loved having my dad read to me, and the way he carefully turned the pages as he narrated each story. Without realising it, books became my path to a world of imagination and possibility, and a love of learning.

My next clear memory of books was at school, in my case a convent in south east London. There, courtesy of an inspirational Latin teacher, I discovered the great love of my life – the Classics - despite the fact that the nuns had neatly ruled through any text they felt to be unsuitable for young ladies, which, let’s face it, meant most of Catullus. Sadly for the well-meaning nuns, this had quite the opposite effect on me and piqued my curiosity further. Latin led to Greek and a change of school, as there weren’t enough students who wanted to study Greek to merit a state school teacher’s salary. Happily for me, the teachers in my next school were just as dedicated and I was surprised but thrilled to win a place to study Classics at Cambridge - not bad for the great granddaughter of a hackney carriage driver from Brixton. But that’s the thing about books, they are totally democratic. They will take you where you want to go.

At Cambridge the doors of life opened for me and I learned to become an independent thinker. That in turn led me to realise that I didn’t want to follow any well-trodden career path of accountant or lawyer. I wanted to drive my own destiny. It was no more than an instinctive feeling, but I followed my gut and after graduation, started a little publishing business. Again, books were in the mix. All of a sudden I realised that I was an entrepreneur, albeit an accidental one. I was running my own show. The challenge for me at the time was that I lacked any role models or mentors. No-one in my family ran a business and there were very few women blazing a trail that I could point to, with the exception of Anita Roddick of Body Shop, Debbie Moore of Pineapple Studios and Margaret Thatcher, if you count running the country as a form of business.

Fast forward almost thirty years and I was surprised to find that still, only one in four businesses was owned or run by a woman. So I started a not for profit called Make it Your Business, to support and encourage other women to start their own business. Then I heard about the Business & IP Centre and in particular their success with female and BAME led businesses, and once again curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know who they were, what they did, and why more people didn’t know about their brilliant Business & IP service. I was amazed by what I found – a truly results driven business advisory service that was dynamic, authentic and successful, helping businesses to start up and scale up in equal measure, delivering a fantastic return on investment. Best of all, a service open to all and almost entirely free.

Which brings us to the current moment. Whilst Covid has been an enormous challenge, I can’t think of a better time to be a part of the team at the BIPC. This uniquely valuable service has become even more important in the current climate. Our goal now is to ensure that this service is made available to every community in the land, as we rebuild the economy and create much needed jobs post Covid. I’m looking forward greatly to the challenge.

Teal is a digital platform with a mission to demystify food allergies and empower the estimated 2 million food allergy sufferers in the UK. It provides practical support for allergy-sufferers (and carers) in the event of a reaction with key emergency features including translations, e-commerce access to free-from products, education, and community to bridge the gap between individuals, the medical fraternity; brands and businesses to name a few. The name itself comes from the international colour for food allergies and stands for clarity and communication.

We spoke to Caron, co-founder of Teal, about the very personal story behind the multi-digital support platform including website, web based and native apps and how it came into being, with the support of Start-ups in London Libraries.

‘My three year old daughter suffers from life threatening food allergies and experienced her first anaphylaxis a year ago while abroad - this was a poignant moment in our life as to how we need to protect her future. Suddenly being transported into this world within the last three years, it became apparent how common it is to a have fragmented & long winded journey to diagnosis and management; with reliance on limited offline touch-points for support. Like many others we have spent a lot of time on “Dr Google” and Social Media which may not necessarily provide qualified or correct information. We spotted a gap as it seems there is not many apps in the food allergy space, and none that provide holistic support.

The UK has 2 million allergy sufferers of which 8% of UK children are allergic reactors. The rise in allergic reactions in the last 20 years has cost the NHS £900m in admissions and primary care with reactions peaking at 16-25 year olds and outside the home. Additionally, the Free-From industry has doubled in five years to an estimated £934m in 2019 as reported by Mintel, combined factors of a growing space and market. There is currently limited online and offline support for the UK allergy community; a mobile first; internet driven, tech savvy country as reported by OfCom in 2020.

The motivation to start Teal was to ensure that my daughter and millions others like her are not held back from living their best life as a result of their allergies; and that their parents don’t struggle for information like we did. I wanted to be in control of doing all I can to improve her future and instrumental in driving change. So often they are isolated and excluded as a result of not having the right information or support. As this next generation has been born with technology, it made sense to develop a digital solution so that families like ours and children in their independence have immediate access to the key tools that will help reduce allergic reactions and provide support through emergencies.

Following my daughter’s birth I gave up working to concentrate and care for her various medical conditions and complicated paediatric pathway. My previous professional experience was developing customer strategies so I am passionate about the world from the individual’s point of view. I also spent the last two years up-skilling as a qualified digital marketer through the CIM, as digitisation is driving the future for the next generations and there is a need to be relevant to support them and integrate online and offline experiences.

Pandemic or not, allergies are on the rise. COVID-19 was a massive factor for launching now, as Teal has become more relevant for families - the reliance on digitisation, anxiety around food shortages, external factors as the economy reopens and education resumes. All these highlighted that we need to provide more support in a post-pandemic environment as allergies are increasing and a growing concern. It makes business sense to support the individuals themselves and also the enterprises that serve them; which is packaged within our platform.

I knew I wanted to do something to empower and support others, but was not able to conceptualise or verbalise these ambitions until I started attending the Start-ups in London Libraries workshops. I initially had a few ideas I wanted to develop, but needed to clarify and validate which direction to follow.

Learning about the different ways to start a business and speaking with the facilitators at the SILL workshops gave me confidence to develop and research the validity of TEAL, as it was clear I was passionate about supporting the food allergy community from my discussions.

The timing of my personal experiences and support from the SILL team have been invaluable in setting up my business. The practical considerations and advice in the initial steps on how to get started from an idea to then developing it spring-boarded the birth of Teal. The best first advice was to research, research, research. This is part of my daily mantra now and expanding my knowledge and opportunities for the business.

Sophie [our Start-ups in London Libraries Champion for Croydon] is an absolute gem - and a hidden secret! The value she continues to provide is in her ability to listen to your story and identify your needs. She is proactive about finding solutions and linking you to valid resources and connections that will progress your entrepreneurial journey.

She has been accessible even through lockdown and COVID-19 restrictions and has a wealth of knowledge and a great sounding board. Sophie clearly has an entrepreneurial mindset and has an inbuilt directory of valid contacts and practical sources of information. I have taken advantage of tapping into her 1-2-1 support and feel as if she is poised to help me succeed.

I fear that without starting the SILL project I may still be sitting on my business ideas and further behind where I am, and for that I am incredibly grateful and indebted.

I’ve learnt so much during starting up my business. Most notably that it’s not necessarily an overnight process, it will take time to develop and see the results. It is important to have stamina, so start with a plan and achievable objectives and goals along the way to measure your performance and success.

Testing is important - the idea, how it is communicated, your solutions. This will make the business stronger, because the feedback and data will provide invaluable insights for making informed decisions. Agility is important - with the ever changing socio-economic landscape, this will help leverage your opportunities and mitigate your risks.

Start and grow your network consistently - you never know who you meet and the influence they will have in the future direction and success of your business. Align yourself with people who share your ethos, values and integrity. My Co-Founder Joey; is a life long severe nut allergy sufferer and has been a rock through this year – even though he is based in the US and all our work has been remote.  We are also supported by our amazing Champion Ambassador Julianne Ponan, CEO of Creative Nature Superfoods; who through her multiple-allergies created a brand around superfoods and snacks that are top 14 allergen free, vegan and organic.

My final advice to future entrepreneurs who are at the stage of wanting to start a business is to start! Start the process - research - what is the need that you are satisfying, is there a demand? Is someone else doing it, if so what are you doing differently and what is going to make you stand out? Until you start the process it will only remain an idea, so have the courage to initiate - write it down and research it. It may be the best thing you ever do and ignite an exciting and sustainable mission.

As for the website, web and native app versions of Teal, it has just launched! We are really excited about what we are bringing to the market. Keep an eye out on our social channels or sign up to our mailing list so that we can keep you updated on this. Joey and I also host the weekly Teal podcast that sources the best resources so that the allergy community don’t miss out on life’s best moments; and showcase the best of what the international allergy and free-from community has to offer.

We are also passionate about supporting other enterprises in the allergy and free from community, so please do reach out to see how we can work together. We believe in strong collaborations and growing entrepreneurship to better serve individuals impacted by allergies.

For more on Teal, visit www.teal-app.com.

For more on Start-ups in London Libraries and how to register for our upcoming workshop, visit www.bl.uk/SiLL.

Productschön Business Advice is run by founder Pete Schönbeck. Pete started out at the age of 18 as a trainee buyer for a European clothing wholesaler, Campari International Plc, where he was mentored by the managing director, his father, John, in all aspects of design, product development, sampling, sourcing, buying, brand franchises and major account selling. This led travelling extensively around Europe, the Far East and the United States, providing Pete with a rich understanding of different cultures and the ways of doing business on the international stage.

Background

With a strong family history in the clothing industry, right back to my great, great grandfather, Johannes, who was a tailor to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, I am an internationally experienced merchant. I have worked in retail and wholesale for internationally recognised brands such as Levi Strauss, Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger, Barbour and Ellesse.

From there, I went on to live and work in Germany, then back to the UK where I set up a designer fashion store business with a good friend in Clapham, South London. I then proceeded to work for Timberland EMEA out of their UK EHQ. I consulted for the Pentland Group (with the Ellesse brand), then to Levi Strauss Europe as Design & Merchandise Director for Dockers EMEA. Next, I went on to Simonside, near Newcastle, to consult on the J Barbour & Sons clothing brand, before moving overseas once again to work as Senior Merchandise Director Menswear for Tommy Hilfiger Europe, in Amsterdam.

On returning home once more, I then began working on small consulting projects. That led me to become, a creative industry focussed business adviser initially, with LSBC, as part of a London-based business advisory team.

I provide experienced business insights and an entrepreneurial approach to developing business strategies. I have in the past, and continue to work with both new and established businesses. These include fashion creatives, artists, service industry professionals and a multitude of online and offline businesses in the food and beverage, tech, furniture, beauty, travel, sports and well-being sectors.

What will attendees get?

Productschön Business Advice can help to breakdown the possible barriers to the marketplace that you are targeting, from the fundamentals of assisting in the process of setting up a business by:

• developing business plans
• financial projections
• product management strategies
• gaining access to business funding
• not forgetting the all-important market research. 

I deliver quality and popular business planning and business development workshops, up until COVID-19 at the British Library, and as my client one-to-ones, coaching and mentoring, these are all now held online too.

Reset. Restart

I also deliver the Reset. Restart: your market opportunities webinar, as part of the exciting nationwide Reset. Restart programme. Helping business owners get a greater understanding of how things are evolving in the world of business and how to hit the ground running in a post-COVID-19 world, not forgetting the pending Brexit scenario.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, how is business and the world in general evolving? In the webinar, I take attendees through some insightful statistics that will help businesses refresh and re-engage with consumers, the marketplace, and the new and accelerated evolution of where we are now, and will be in the future.

We investigate the following:

• consumers trends
• the growth in online and mobile device use
• which markets are performing particularly well against the pandemic backdrop?
• how social and environmental aspects are now shaping our world
• how businesses have adapted to help the UK and the world economy fight back against the virus
• Brexit awareness and preparedness.

I love to inject humour and real-life anecdotes to anchor the points I use to reinforce understanding and enable clients to achieve their goals.

Visit the BIPC's workshops and events page to view all upcoming workshops, webinars and events.

As 2020 draws to a close, we are taking the opportunity to celebrate and support small businesses. And what better opportunity than gift-giving during the festive period? We've rounded up just a selection of businesses who have taken part in Innovating for Growth, Start-ups in London Libraries or used our National Network who may just be able to help you find the perfect gift for that hard to buy for person!

Keep glowing

Healthy, glowing skin and a moment of calm. Pamoja® is a conscious skincare brand based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Sarah Taylor, a trained skincare formulator, has created a simple daily skincare routine designed to help multitasking women step back from the stress of a busy, modern lifestyle and care for their skin with premium natural and ethically sourced ingredients, beautiful textures and aromas that leave you feeling radiant and relaxed. Certified cruelty free. Vegan. Palm oil free.

Cost: From £10

Where to buy: Pamoja

This is your life

Turn your past into a Christmas present. Autodotbiography is an online system that makes it easy for anyone, no matter how good or bad at writing, to create a beautifully written and lavishly illustrated hardback book of their life story for their family. Basically, it is a virtual ghost writer and virtual book designer, all the author has to do is answer simple questions about their life and add photographs and documents and autodotbiography turns their words and pictures into a beautiful book. A perfect present that becomes a family heirloom.

Cost: £250 (for a year's access to the online system and one hardback book)

Where to buy: Autodotbiography.

Treat yourself

Evolve Beauty products are lovingly handmade in small batches at their studio in Hertfordshire, England to ensure the freshness of the precious antioxidants in the natural oils, butters and extracts. Our products are vegan, cruelty free and eco-friendly.

Evolve's glamorous, golden Bio-Retinol Gold Mask delivers the benefits of retinol without the irritation, and it does this by containing a natural, retinol-like plant extract from Bidens Pilosa that works on the skin to deliver the same rejuvenation benefits and cellular renewal but without the added irritation that some retinol based products can cause. It also contains Rosehip Oil and Argan Oil making it rich in omega 3 and 6 which help to nourish and moisturise, leaving you with glowing skin. The golden shimmers come from sustainably sourced mineral Mica, so it makes for an extremely luxurious face mask!

Cost: £26

Where to buy: Evolve

Keep warm, dry and cosy

So very British, my dear! Heating & Plumbing London creates British lifestyle accessories to keep you warm, dry and cosy. Heating & Plumbing love being tongue-in-cheek with everything they do, including their name!

Cost: Various but get 15% off sitewide with code: SoVeryBritishLibrary (valid until Thursday 31 December 2020)

Where to buy: Heating & Plumbing London

Fine prints

On 3 May 2016, an evacuation put 80,000 residents onto Fort McMurray, a sole access road without notice. What followed was a new form of hyper energised anthropogenic fire that burnt uncontrollably through their settlement and industry over three days. These pictures were made along that road as the region recovered six months afterward. On The Line is made from recycled coffee cups and EU Ecolable Certified paper from the Scandinavian Boreal Forest and the ink is 100% plant based by Park Communications, London. Photographs and words by Alan McFetridge. Available at Whitechapel Gallery, The Photographer’s Gallery and Clair De Rouen Books in London.

Cost: Book, £16.50. Framed limited edition prints, from £750

Where to buy: Alan McFetridge

Children's gift bundles

Lemon Ribbon is an inspirational contemporary youth brand sparkling with energy and originality. Based around a series of characters, they have used their background of designing for international childrenswear retailers to create a world of cheerful education encompassing both an online world and physical products such as toys, books, accessories and other educational products. Their online shop sells exclusive toy and backpack bundles, comprising of zipped backpack, pencil case and small plush toy, that make ideal Christmas presents for children aged 4 - 7. The bundles arrive wrapped in tissue paper and can include a personalised gift note. 

Cost: £40 + get a free pack of cards with code: BLCARDS (valid until 24.12.20, not valid in conjunction with any other offer)

Where to buy: Lemon Ribbon

Toe-gether at Christmas

Socks are guaranteed to appear as gifts on Christmas Day for someone, luckily for you, we have something a little bit different... ChattyFeet, a funny gift brand that inspires people to get silly with illustrated sock characters, paper models, mugs, enamel pins and more. 

Cost: Adult socks from £8

Where to buy: ChattyFeet

For the foodie

Based on age old traditions, The Slow Vinegar Company makes small batches of finely crafted vinegars from scratch. By using a traditional double fermentation process, produce is transformed slowly into unique tasting wine vinegar. All their vinegars are aged and matured to allow further depth and complexity of flavour to develop.

The Slow Vinegar Company uses seasonal fruits, roots, berries and blossoms; grown, foraged or picked from local farms to make their delicious range of 12 exciting flavours. All of their vinegars are raw, unpasteurised, vegan friendly, gluten and preservative free, and packed full of natural goodness. Perfect for all of those festive dishes!

Cost: From £4

Where to buy: The Slow Vinegar Company

For the crafter

Treat a friend or a crafty loved one to a Fold Line gift voucher and give them the gift of choice! If you’re not sure about their handmade style, a e-gift voucher will let them choose from hundreds of sewing patterns on the Fold Line's online shop.

Cost: Gift vouchers can come in the amount of your choice

Where to buy: The Fold Line

And for the craft beer lovers...

indiebeer has a great range of Christmas gift products on their website, including subscription services to last your beer-loving friend the whole year. An ideal present to wrap up under the tree would be their personalised beer box. You choose your budget and the indiebeer team will put together a box of beers for you based on our personal recommendations, whatever your budget. All boxes include a beer menu with descriptions of each beer and a gift note can be included if required.

Cost: Budgets from £20

Where to buy: indiebeer

Let it 'stow

Kitchen Canvas is part of our Waltham Forest Start-ups in London Libraries' community and they are representing all things Walthamstow which this delectable hamper. The purchase of one hamper allows you to support 10 local businesses. Let someone else do the hard work of curating your gifts for you with this beautiful box of goodies. 

Cost: £52

Where to buy: Kitchen Canvas

A mug of cheer

Victoria Eggs creates playful homewares and gifts, all of which are proudly made in Britain. Her Santa's Sleigh Mug is a beautiful stocking filler gift. With an image of Santa flying his sleigh over a snowy picturesque English town as people below go about their last minute preparations unaware of the magic happening above them, this fine bone china mug is certain to make you smile whilst enjoying your cuppa on Christmas morning. This mug is hand decorated in Britain and printed onto fine bone china.

Cost: £12. Customers can get 10% off all orders over £35 by entering the code BL2020.

Where to buy: Victoria Eggs

Couture combating climate change

Tammam is a sustainable couture fashion studio now offering an exclusive collection of ready-to-wear and accessories to support textile artisans in India. These beautiful scarves are available in organic cotton or peace silk and production of them has helped artisans survive lockdown. The scarves have been woven in the climate stripes (Professor Ed Hawkins, university of Reading) - the scale which depicts the rise of global temperatures over the last 170 years. Not only are these scarves 100% biodegradable, fair trade and carbon neutral in production (all the weaving has been created by hand on traditional looms, using human power), they also hold a message - a reminder of the very real issue of climate change. They're a little piece of couture luxury, delivered.

Cost: £30 to £180 with delivery included

Where to buy: Tammam Climate Stripes Couture Collection

Gift them some get up and go

HAVEN sells coffee with the aim of raising awareness for refugee communities across the UK, from promoting refugee artists to organising events both visual and performing art, as well as providing barista training to those refugees who are looking to build a new professional life for themselves. They have rolled out a range of festive gifts this year including packages that include bags of coffee and branded totes and T-shirts. Or how about a monthly coffee subscription? 

Cost: From £22

Where to buy: HAVEN Coffee

Feline festivities

And we all know Christmas isn't just for the humans. Treat your furry friend with an upgraded stay at Longcroft’s award winning group of cat hotels.

Kitties can celebrate in style by beginning the big day with a carefully chosen hamper full of toys and goodies. Guests that are allowed will also enjoy a hand prepared breakfast with choices from the hotel’s ‘A La Cat’ Menu. Because Longcroft hotels are located within the hotel owners home gardens they can have a welcome break from the kitchen and enjoy cuddles and play sessions with their guests.  The afternoon can be spent relaxing from the comfort of their suites whilst sinking into the finest pillows for a cat nap. Every hotel owner is hand picked and trained by Longcroft founder Abi Purser and her team of experts including Head Vet Chris.

Cost: From £18 per day

Where to buy: Longcroft Luxury Cat Hotel Group

Don't get tied up in knots

Norio Knots offer eco-friendly woven cotton statement necklaces and accessories, and was born after one throwaway purchase too many. This is sustainable fashion, built to last. Each Norio Knots piece is made from 100% recycled cotton, and made to order. They are also a finalist in Kirstie's Handmade Christmas and, as far as we're concerned, if it's good enough for Kirstie....

Cost: From £7

Where to buy: Norio Knots

For the fitness fanatic

Start-ups in London Libraries business, BOXD, have a special edition Healthy Christmas box on offer throughout December which includes a month's supply of their protein based health shakes, as well as some extra goodies to help you glow throughout the Winter months. 

Cost: £25,99

Where to buy: Christmas BOXD

And for those who love to kick back on two wheels

The Sormano Cycling Gilet is an essential garment for cycling lovers. The gilet is super light and compact to store in pockets with its own in-built pouch. The Gilet is made in Italy by Cyclists for Cyclists. Extra features included zipped hidden pocket for valuable and reflective tab to increase safety during the hours of darkness.

Cost: £46

Where to buy: SaddleDrunk

Spread some sweetness

Bushwood Bees have colonies of bees on the roof of the East London Mosque and create delectable honey-based products. Show someone how much you care by sending them a lovely gift box of raw, pure honey and a lovely lavender hand made bar of honey soap. You can add a personalised message to make it extra special.

Cost: £15 collected or delivery for an extra £2.95

Where to buy: Bushwood Bees

All that glitters

Buy high quality but affordable jewellery for your friends and family this year. Delmora, part of our Start-ups in London Libraries community in Bexley, sells pendants in a wide variety of different shapes and finishes. 

Cost: From £8.90

Where to buy: Delmora Etsy

Make mealtimes fun

Looking for a fun way to serve Christmas dinner, or is it difficult to get the little ones to eat their greens? The Wood Life Project's reindeer plate is made in the UK from sustainably grown and harvested wood from the UK. Free personalisation and P&P.

Cost: £35 (mult-buy discounts available)

Where to buy: The Wood Life Project

All wrapped up

Grace, the founder of Anike Titilai designs handcrafted jewellery created using semi-precious crystals, including obsidian and yellow jade with gold vermeil accents to finish. Bespoke pieces can also be made to suit customer requirements so contact Grace if there is anything that you would like but cannot find on our website. The range includes waistbeads, ankle bracelets, bracelets, necklaces and rings.

Cost: From £40

Where to buy: Anike Titilai

Put your best foot forward

Finale is an award winning family run shoe shop in Corbridge, Northumberland. Run by mother and daughter duo Lynn and Faye Clark, who source fabulous boots, shoes, handbags and accessories from around the globe for their shop and website, its shopping how it should be with excellent customer service and great product knowledge.

Cost: Various. Gift vouchers available from £10

Where to buy: Finale

Feeling retro

Inspired by growing up in the 1970s and 80s, Louise started Obble Bobble for her daughter, Phoebe, and her crazy, long hair. Obble Bobble hair bobbles are made by hand in Northamptonshire. Not only are they retro cool, they are designed to be super strong yet gentle on hair.

Cost: £4.99

Where to buy: Etsy

Stephanie is the managing director of Human Connections London, an introduction and matchmaking agency based in London and founder of Sté Tumba Capital, a business angel vehicle investing in creative ideas, bonds and stocks, commodities, and most importantly start-ups with innovative ideas. Stephanie became part of the BIPC family after taking part in our Innovating for Growth programme.

My diary takes place during the week when the second lockdown was announced, also the week before the highly anticipated American elections and 60 days before Christmas.

We reached out to the Business & IP Centre for Human Connections London as we felt stuck. We felt like we had achieved enviable and reasonable growth, yet we hit a glass ceiling. We needed external eyes and opinions, not only to be bigger and better than our competitors, but more so to implement a consistent system for getting a strategy implemented that truly scales. Whilst I was really impressed by my colleagues and our mentors during the Innovating for Growth programme, I found the few sessions of the Business & IP Centre's Growth Club mentoring programme with Alan Wick even more valuable during such trying times. It has currently proven to be an source of inspiration to sustain during the pandemic and well beyond.

Monday You never know what your day will bring when you own and manage a portfolio of several investments and properties and work on a couple of projects around the world. Especially during a global pandemic! Yet, my Mondays tend to be more or less the same unless there is an emergency.

I do not do any work on Monday; in fact I mostly dedicate this day to charity endeavours. However, I still wake up around 5am with the following morning routine that ends around 8am. I call this period of the day Golden Hours as they tend to set the energies and vibes of the day:

• Wash my face and drink a glass of water
• Say my gratitude out loud
• Prayers
• Meditation
• Visualisation
• Exercise (Pilates 30 to 45 minutes)
• Reading
• Plan my priorities for the day with a coffee and a croissant
• Shower

And now I am ready to start my day around 8am!

8.00 Working from home, I switch my laptop on. The first thing I do is read thoroughly all the reports that I have received from my teams, partners and service providers the Friday before. These reports usually help me to plan the rest of the week and sometimes do tweak my priorities on Monday.

10.00 I check my phone for the first time. I also respond to my emails, for no more than an hour, so I need to prioritise who I respond to.

11.00 I catch up with my assistant, this tends to take at least two hours, to plan the week ahead and determine where she can help me out both in my personal and business life.

Lunch time I am a Rotarian, as such we meet every Monday at 12.30 for lunch, a talk presented by an inspiring leader or charity representative, and a catch up with my Rotarian friends. Rotary is a non-political and non-religious organisation whose purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It’s my way to give back to a variety of communities from one sole place. We usually meet in Mayfair but we are currently holding Zoom meetings.

14.30 I spend two hours reviewing my assets (personal and business) and decide what to buy, sell, or hold. In fact, I check the markets and my investments’ fluctuations. My investments include stocks, equities, commodities and others on the NYC, London, and Paris. Therefore, I read the numbers, the news, any press release, quarterly or annual report, sales and so much more!

Finally, I end my Monday by coaching and/or mentoring three young professionals, free of charge, in the subject of career, lifestyle, and business.

21.00 I ordered food through Deliveroo. It’s too late to cook and I never miss a meal.

22.00 My Evening Routine:

• Shower
• Praying
• Thanks
• Visualisation and Affirmations

Tuesday My Tuesdays are your Mondays. My Golden Hours have been well used and I am on the starting block and full or energy for the day. The only difference is that I take my coffee at the office, not at home.

8.00 This time, I start by reading my emails for the first hour.

9.00 Speed read 2/3 unsolicited pitches for investments.

10.00 Zoom call with my mentor.

11.00 Catch up with the Marketing team.

Noon Catch up with Miia from Human Connections London. We have a meeting to talk about the clients I will be meeting this week and looking after. I am a qualified matchmaker, but only look after Platinum Plus and beyond members (most expensive membership). We also catch up, talking about their backgrounds and their requirements. There’s a very exciting week ahead so I love this part of my job!

13.00 Lunch.

14.00 I will be spending this afternoon interviewing Business Development Managers and Matchmakers for Human Connections. I have three different interviews, each with 30 minutes break in between and a quick read of my emails, prioritising who to respond to.

18.30 Checking my emails for the last time.

19.30 I am off! It’s date night and I am heading to one of my faves, Ivy High Street Kensington. We are leaving the restaurant at 21.30 because of the curfew and I am at home at 21.45.

22.30 My Evening routine (note, I would not have checked my phone in the all evening).

Wednesday Morning routine.

8.00 Check my emails.

9.30 Taxi towards Home Grown for a meeting at 10.00 to meet my assistant. We are working on a couple of creative projects for 2021.

I am currently working on a franchise called #Superwomen and today my assistant and I meeting one of the potential videographers. Th project requires a very specific sets of skills for both the editing and the filming. We are looking for someone able to shoot and edit the show in the a style that I’m envisioning, therefore need someone who can understand and translate my ideas in reality.

The launch is for next year, it was meant to be last summer 2020, but I am very excited as this time allowed my team and I to tweak and fine-tune the project and make it very specific. We would be working with a group of talented and highly skilled artists, entrepreneurs and successful women and we can’t wait to introduce the project to the world. This is another fun and creative part of my role, it’s less factual, more engaging, and most importantly, the show is meant to inspire me and other women from around the world.

After discussing #superwomen project and a few more projects for next year, we eat lunch at Home Grown, have a quick re-viewing of the place where I want to film and leave.

15.00 My assistant and I are heading toward Home House for an additional viewing of one of their venues. I have a clear vision of where I want the show to be filmed and I feel like Home Grown is the ideal place to do so. Yet, I wanted to see an additional venue to be sure that I am not missing out on a better place. Well, I stick to Home Grown, however, this place will be ideal for my birthday.

16.00 Back at the Home Office. I speed read the legal documentation needed for my call with my lawyer, read the news regarding current legislation changes in France, and write down questions for him.

16.30 Call with lawyer in France to discuss a few amendments to our standard rental agreement as per recent changes made in France in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

17.30 End of call. I read my emails until 18.00.

18.30 Home getting ready for my night out.

20.00 Dinner with friends at Bagatelle.

22.30 My Evening Routine

Thursday Morning routine

8.00 Checking my emails. At this point, my ordinary Thursday routine was interrupted, so I’ll relate what happened instead:

I received an emergency call, a worker had had an accident on one of our building sites (Sussex) with a serious injury. I had to meet one of my business partners and the building company that employs him onsite and assess and gauge what happened. I had to be sure that our site had not broken any rules as it is our responsibility to provide a place that is safe and healthy for all of all our builders/contractors. So, needless to say that I was pretty anxious (a very unusual feeling for me as I rarely am!).

9.00 I was on the train discussing with my business partners and lawyers about the questions we need to ask and what needs to be assessed on location. I simultaneously used my personal phone to email Miia, my business partner for Human Connections to cancel my meetings with the clients that I was meant to meet today.

11.00 I arrived on site. I checked the details (report) of the accident, the pictures taken on the scene of the causes, the damages on site, and I call or question the two witnesses of the accident, ask about the working practices, and so on so forth. I was stressed out, I need to relax.

13.00 Lunch. I was on a quick call with Human Connections to check my next availability and speak to my assistant to tell her what happened. This was followed by a quick 'fun and relaxing' call to my BF and BFF. I was calmer, relieved, and back to my normal self.

14.00 Back to business (like I really had a non-business lunch) we then call the employee’s lawyer.

15.00 We had a meeting with the the employee’s employer to define whose insurance is going to be used.

16.00 Exhausted, on the train, I postponed my jazz night and dinner with the ladies for 20.00 instead of 1900. I responded to my emails on my mobile.

18.30 I get home. I had a quick shower, a change of clothes and am ready to relax.

20.00 Drinks, dinner, and jazz with my ladies.

22.30 My Evening Routine

What a day! I was exhausted!

Friday Morning routine

8.00 My inbox was cracking, unsurprisingly, and my business phone had billion of voicemail messages. I am really tempted to postpone my appointment at the hairdresser later on today… Let’s see.

I start with checking my voicemail. I had 13 messages. I take notes, phone numbers, and saved most of them. I decide to call two of them back later in the morning and email three of them immediately, the rest will have to wait until next week.

9.00 I decide to deal with most of my emails by themes, projects or start-ups. I start with the Business Development Executive recruitment for Human Connections. I confirm a few interviews that had been conducted for me and review the CVs received. I send my new availability for the following week for the missed phone calls and client meetings the days before.

I have a call with Miia to review our new package called 'Love at first Dial'. We are excited about it and will be organising Zoomtastic dates for our new and former clients.

I read my PR team’s email, with the subject: 'POST ON INSTAGRAM – YOU HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING FOR DAYS' and decide to post later on Halloween and tomorrow as well. My simple and quick response: 'Will do :)'

The start-ups are all panicking at the shadow of a new lockdown. I have to approve the final pricing, packages, services, products, discounts, offers of six different companies. I start by printing the minutes of our latest meetings, compare them with the final tweaks and approved most of them. DONE!

I can’t believe it’s 14.00! Where did this time go? I call my hairdresser and postpone for Saturday. Not proud. I need to eat and go for a walk.

I am walking in Hyde Park and grab some sushi on my way back home.

15.30 Well, I can’t cancel my dinner with the BF, so I am going to be very selective with what I choose to do for the last couple of hours. Passion (hobbies/friends/family) first, business second! That is my motto… So, quick quick…

Last project to work on that day, #Superwomen. I am still working on my emails! We are negotiating the licensing rights with Sony and Warner Chappell for a song sang by Kygo that we want to use. It’s our first contact with them and we want a quote from each publishers.

16.45 Finally returning the calls from my voicemail. I know it was meant to be this morning!

17.30 I speed read the different reports I have received from everyone including my assistant, the marketing team, WIB Limited, Human Connections and so on…

I am done for today! And I’d better try on my costume for Halloween that I received on Monday and just did not have the time to try. It’d better fit or tomorrow will be an intense shopping day as well.

18.00 I am on the phone with my sister.

18.55 Getting ready for my dinner date.

20.00 Dinner at Koji.

22.15 Night Routine.

Saturday (full moon) I am awake around 8.30 but stay in bed until 10.45, when I receive my Gousto for the week.

11.00 Coffee and croissants in front of my iPad on La Redoute, Maje, and Net-A-Porter to get some dresses and style inspirations for the winter. 2021 will be a better year! Did I mention that I like fashion and have a soft spot for dresses? I rarely go into stores (unless I’m in my home city of Paris and strolling around cute boutiques). Yes, I am a proper millennial, from food to clothes, if I can avoid wasting my time and use it more efficiently for family, friends, and socials. I will. I’d rather go to the theatre to see a play. Well, when they open.

12.00 Morning Routine.

13.00 I grab a quick sandwich on my way to the hairdresser.

14.00 Hairdresser. I spent two hours there to hear all about conspiracy theories about the COVID-19. Very entertaining.

17.00 Walking home and chatting with a friend over the phone.

17.30 Getting ready for my Halloween afternoon tea and dinner with my dearest girlfriends.

18.00 Afternoon tea at Home House. The atmosphere is intense. Boris has just announced a second lockdown starting on Thursday at midnight. We are even more willing to have a great night and enjoy these fun and dearest moments.

22.00 Heading home.

22.30 Call with mom.

23.34 Night routine.

Sunday (at home with the boyfriend) This time, I stayed in bed until 11.00.

Noon Brunch at Delloway Terrace.

14.00 Back at home checking/planning for the week ahead. Checking my emails and diary.

15.30 Enjoying my book, magazines, and other reading.

16.30 Chat with my brothers, my best friends, catching up on our latest adventures.

18.00 Watching a documentary on the American elections.

20.00 I cook my first Gousto meal.

22.00 Night routine and good night!

This was a fairly lazy weekend. In a world without COVID-19, I, or we, would probably be enjoying a matinee at a ballet, theatre, or cinema. Or doing some outdoor activities. But considering the intense week, I wanted to have a quiet weekend.

This was a week in my life. It’s not that much different to a regular week the I would have had pre COVID-19. But, add in the flights delays, cancellations, my trips to the Nordics, the USA and Greenland, the getaways in Europe over weekends, or the night outs in operas, theatres, ballets and gigs and you would have a real idea of what it is to live a week in my life. Happy lockdown!

Paul Grant has been running workshops, webinars and masterclasses for more than a decade at the British Library's Business & IP Centre, principally focusing on funding and growing a business.

About Paul’s funding events

One of the biggest hurdles of early stage companies is fundraising. Entrepreneurs looking for investment often face difficulty when navigating their way through the many funding options available without giving away too much control of their company. Paul has spent many years demystifying the funding game for entrepreneurs so that they can take the right decisions when it comes to launching and growing their businesses.

What’s covered?

Paul delivers online and in-person coaching, events and courses that break down the steps to getting funded into straightforward, practical actions.

As part of the British Library's new Reset. Restart programme, Paul runs a free monthly session on Your Funding Options which helps entrepreneurs discover routes to capital that they may not have heard of before, and decide on the best approaches for their business. Included in the session is advice on the latest government loans and support initiatives, and how to take advantage of angel investment and crowdfunding.

Paul’s half-day anchor workshop, How to Attract the Right Investors, walks entrepreneurs through the whole process of securing equity investment through crowdfunding, angel investors and venture capital.

Attendees leave with a simple, step-by-step plan for funding their business, as well as proven pitching templates and strategies. The workshop includes an interactive session with a top angel investor who shares insider information on the way he makes investments.

Paul also delivers regular online events to give entrepreneurs the best chances of raising the capital they need. His Fast Growth Series covers four key areas:

• How to create a pitch deck to secure investment offers
• How to create an executive summary to get investor meetings
• How to create a financial model to gain investor commitment
• How to raise equity capital through crowdfunding

The series also includes several free question and answer sessions with top angel investors, debt-financing experts and legal professionals.

Paul is a regular presenter on the British Library's Innovating for Growth programme, a free European Regional Development Fund initiative designed to help small businesses that are looking to grow.

Who are these events for?

All Paul’s events are designed to support early-stage entrepreneurs who are struggling to figure out which route to take to fund and grow their business, and who are seeking clarity, direction and a clear set of practical steps towards securing investment.

Paul’s How to Attract the Right Investors workshop is ideal for ambitious entrepreneurs who are either in the start-up phase and are unsure of where or how to raise the capital to launch, or are already trading but need more capital to reach profitability and scale.

The Fast Growth online series is designed for entrepreneurs who are keen to secure equity funding as quickly as possible and includes special events on crowdfunding and agile funding which are increasingly popular ways for business owners to finance their growth.

What can attendees expect?

Attendees can expect pacy and highly interactive sessions packed with valuable content and practical guidance. All events include follow-up information and support, as well as road-tested formulas and templates for attracting investment that have been validated by hundreds of investors. Paul’s aim is for everyone attending his events to leave with clarity and confidence about securing the right investment, so they are free to spend more time on their business.

"Paul is one of those advisors that is talking from experience rather than from a textbook. These events will save most people a fortune." - Managing Director at Arated.com Corp. Ltd. More testimonials.

About Paul Grant

Paul Grant is founder of The Funding Game which offers practical guidance, support, tools, events and networking opportunities for entrepreneurs seeking capital for their startup and scale-up ventures. Paul is an experienced entrepreneur and was founder of a London-based company for seven years which was funded through equity and debt finance. The company offered London-wide catering to the corporate and retail markets. Paul then worked with BA Capital and Capital Partners Private Equity Ltd. where he built a network of over 500 business angels, while coaching entrepreneurs individually and in groups on all aspects of funding and growing their early-stage businesses.

Paul has been featured in The Guardian and in several industry blogs and podcasts, and has run mentoring sessions for the British Library's Business & IP Centre, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Cass Business School, City University, London South Bank University, the Impact Hub network, Innovation Warehouse, Google Campus, Rainmaking Loft, The Princes Trust, The Business Funding Show, Big Venture Fund and many other incubators, innovation hubs, accelerators and organisational partners in and around London. He also provides pitch training for entrepreneurs delivering successful pitches on BBC’s Dragon’s Den. Paul’s passion is playing a part in helping other entrepreneurs enjoy the game of launching and running their own successful businesses.

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn.

Visit the BIPC's workshops and events page to view all upcoming workshops, webinars and events.

Catherine, founder and CEO of Ossa Organic took part in our Innovating for Growth: Scale-ups programme earlier this year, so we wanted to find out more about how she leads her company and what it involves...

Ossa Organic is a food business on a mission to inspire people to change the way we eat, from choosing fast and convenient to nourishing ourselves for optimal gut health and wellness.

Our first product to market was organic and traditional bone broth, which was also the first to hit UK supermarket shelves in 2015. As a business we are focused on tradition not trend, and a lot of mine and the teams’ time is spent in educating and inspiring people to move away from 0% fat diet culture and processed foods, and instead to use ancient nutrition as a way to heal themselves and feel well. A great example of this was our Bone Broth Bar held in January of this year, where we held a pop up for three weeks in the iconic Selfridges food hall in Central London, serving hot cups of chicken, beef and vegan broths and chatting to customers about gut health and these nourishing traditions.

I joined the Innovating for Growth programme, just before the pandemic hit and the world as we knew came to a halt. During this time the programme was an exceptional form of support and motivation and reminded me of the many vital practices for entrepreneurs, which help us to refocus and reprioritise our working lives:

• To plan and think strategy in a quickly changing landscape
• To visualise my goals
• To be creative
• To collaborate
• To make time to rest

All of these now make up my primary focuses in a working week as I continually learn to be more kind and patient with myself and remember my favourite mantra, ‘You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.’

My week

My weeks are always different as I do keep a routine, but am someone who thrives in a dynamic and varied environment. I spend every day working to grow and build Ossa but make my family and my children a priority as well as myself.

Self care

I am sure there are many female entrepreneurs who are mothers that understand if you are not giving time to yourself, you will ultimately fail. Self-care gives you more energy and ultimately it is this positivity and motivation that you can gift back to your family and your business.

Once I have completed my maternity leave, I will resume my weekly routine which includes:

• yoga three – five days per week before the house wakes up (a rare moment for stillness and inward reflection)
• I also practice meditation and do a 10 minute breath work session or journey most days. This helps me still my mind and some of my best ideas for the business or moments of clarity to make better decisions, come in this time. I always keep a notebook close by to jot down any ideas that spring to mind.
• I rest and recalibrate by using the sauna two times a week for 20 minutes, which promotes detoxification, gut health and digestion and gives me time to detox from the digital, putting myself in a space where it is literally impossible to check Instagram or emails.

I am a mother of three and have just welcomed our third child into the world, so I am currently on maternity leave. At such a pivotal time in a woman’s life, I have been so proud to take time out and realise what we have created in Ossa Organic.

Through my pregnancy, labour and birth (which took place at home) I sipped on bone broth and remembered how it all began. Ossa was born when I was pregnant with my first son and in search for an all-natural and organic source of nutrients for my body and found an elixir in bone broth. Hailed for millennia as “liquid gold", bone broth is rich in the nutrients from slow cooked bones including collagen, gelatin, glycine and amino acids to help seal the gut, strengthen immunity and much more. It was then I realised that there was nothing readily available and that it was time to share an alternative away from processed fast foods and bring these ancient nourishing traditions to supermarket shelves. Now, five years after launching, as a new mother I am able to enjoy the product that my body really needs during this pivotal time of rest and recovery.

Living my own brand

It has been so powerful for me to live my own brand over the lifetime of the business. I started looking into ancestral nutrition as a way of life seven years ago when I was pregnant with our first child. Ossa Organic was born five years ago, and since then, my team and I have worked weekly to inspire others to make their gut health a priority and to learn about bone broth and natural, organic and traditional foods. We share more on our blog.

My team and I have become experts at working remotely, considering the current times. We work on two team meetings a week which can be one – two hours long. We spend time looking at our micro and macro goals and then give each team member dedicated tasks.

As a female entrepreneur and a mom, the power of a strong team behind me is everything. To have trust and support from people who understand and grasp your business, gives me strength as a CEO and allows me to focus more on what I want to achieve for the business.

I work five days a week and start very early, as I am an early bird. I like to finish work by 15.30 to be able to collect the children, and on days this is not possible, I know I can make this time when I need to. This is vitally important to me.

I also spend a portion of time each week reading, researching, and discovering new ideas and trends in the way of health, mindfulness and biohacking. All these areas relate to Ossa and help keep me at the cutting edge and inspired.

I am most recently very interested in regenerative farming and soil health as all this links to the microbiome. Having left a corporate job where I was a Partner in a large firm in the City of London, I have spent two years out of that world and immersed in my own business where I have had the pleasure of being able to design my own life. The power of having control over how you work, allows you to create a life that suits your best interests. I believe this way of living has made me more productive and more inspired in both business and everyday life.

Hi, and welcome back to part 2 of The Street Food Company blog (read part 1 here if you missed it)! After another great six weeks, we have finally finished the Innovating for Growth: Scale-ups programme and have managed to build a solid growth plan that we are so excited to start actioning.

After all the workshop learnings from the first half of the programme, part 2 really allowed us to tailor this work to our business with focussed one-to-one consultations.

Everything kicked off with one of the most overlooked areas of a business, market research. Not only did we have access to thousands of up-to-date market reports via the programme, we also had Oliver, our dedicated Business Library researcher. Oliver was able to help us answer specific questions we had e.g. were young people engaged in cooking sauces? How has COVID-19 changed people’s eating and cooking habits? Getting these questions answered gave us a much clearer picture about the opportunity in the market and how our products and offering could be as competitive as possible.

With this research in hand we decided to engage a design agency to help us reposition our brand and get the key messages right. During this design phase, we fortunately met with Alex and Ceyda from Briffa, a specialist IP law firm. They were able to give us advice about protecting trade marks and other business intellectual property, both in the UK and abroad, and reviewed our existing confidentiality agreements and privacy policies. We now feel so much more confident in protecting all our work.

Our final meeting was with Uday from Red Ochre where we brainstormed final thoughts and ideas from all areas of the course so we could confidently walk away with an actionable growth plan that will truly make a difference to our company.

We are now incredibly excited to launch our updated brand and products and to crack on with our mission of making truly unique, adventurous and fun products with crazy bold flavours that other companies are afraid to do; that challenges the status quo and pushes the boundaries of food and flavour. If you are as passionate and creative with food as we are, subscribe on our website and be the first to find out!

All in all, it has been a fantastic journey and couldn’t have come at a better time. I would like to thank the British Library for accepting us on this course with a big shout-out to Julie and Anna the Relationship Managers, who have been fantastic. Also big thanks to all the mentors who have helped so many companies with their growth plans in such volatile times.

Although it’s goodbye to the Innovating for Growth programme, we are now looking forward to joining the BIPC’s Growth Club and getting access to their amazing guest speakers. For those thinking of taking part on the course, all I can say is get over to the Innovating for Growth page on the British Library website and apply.

Thanks for now and Let Your Taste Buds Travel!

James and Kevin

In the Summer of 2019, Aleksandra had just been made redundant: ‘It was a painful experience,’ she says now, ‘and even more painful that I was not able to find a new job. I went to the Job Centre, but they told me they couldn’t help me searching for a job in the field I had worked in before. It was a totally new experience for me.’ Thinking about ways in which she could turn her practical skills and passion for yoga into something that could provide her with a salary, she stumbled across a programme, Start-ups in London Libraries, in her local library in Waltham Forest. ‘I could learn new skills, and get support. I attended all the workshops and it was breath-taking how in no time I learned about all the practicalities so I could move on and test my business idea. So many people have ideas, but they do not know there is a treasure box in the reach of their fingertips. It is free and highly professional, effective and tailored-made for each individual, each business idea.’

Here we spoke to Aleksandra, now the proud owner of the company Happy Stance Yoga Therapy, about her business, her newly discovered purpose in life and her experience of the ‘treasure box’ that is the Start-ups in London Libraries programme.

Can you tell us a bit about your business idea?

My idea was to create a specialised yoga and meditation programme to improve the quality of life for older people. At the moment there are 12 million people aged 65+ in the UK. Among all developed EU countries, the seniors here have the shortest life expectancy and the unhealthiest lifestyle. I definitely thought I could help here. Healthy ageing is the focus of WHO and the UN and they have made a global call to action – for the decade of healthy ageing, 2020-2030. So what better time than now, as we enter into this decade, to create a business that focuses on assisting healthy ageing?

Why did you want to start up a business? What was your motivation?

I really love to help however I can and I like to use my existing skill set, but I also like to learn new things. I can say now that being made redundant was a blessing in disguise. Since I decided not to pursue my journalistic career, it became obvious that I should do something with my yoga teacher role. There are so many already existing yoga studios and gyms, but I have found out from talking to people and a couple of my private students that these venues are usually not age-friendly, the music is too loud, the tempo and energy in the classes is too intimidating and simply not encouraging for the elderly. I thought yoga would be such a nice way to help the elderly stay healthy and socially engaged.

I have always exercised with my grandparents after they suffered from strokes, diabetes, and some reduced mobility issues, and later with my students. Some of who were close to being centenarians! It simply feels good to be able to make positive changes in the lives of older people, their families and their communities.

How did the SiLL programme help?

SiLL was helpful from day one. I gave Sarah [the Waltham Forest Business Champion] permission to remind me of the deadlines for my project schedule we set up together. I tend to get distracted and she was always kind and firm enough in keeping me on track, informing me of any interesting new developments she saw in this field, offering constant supervision and guidance. I was provided with the list of local care homes and organizations I could contact as well as the venues where I could offer my yoga classes.

Defining the process and all its stages were the crucial points for me. I would never have been able to develop my business this quickly without the help of Sarah. She gave me tips for presenting my idea and even kindly offered to go with me to care homes to make an appointment for delivering my trial session as I wasn’t receiving any response. She checked my website, my email signature and my flyers as well as finding and suggesting quiet workspaces in the borough.

Can you tell us a bit about Sarah or the Waltham Forest business community?

I felt thoroughly supported. There was no question I couldn't ask and I always felt that Sarah was really there, in service of the community and I felt complete trust in her guidance and motivation. Her immediate responses to countless emails or LinkedIn messages, networking skills, and also human skills were a huge support for me. She would regularly remind me to take care of myself, have a day off and do something fun and take pride in success I made so far. I would get impatient or unhappy and she would quickly remind me how much I have already progressed, in just two months, in a foreign country, in a foreign language, without family or friends. And then I would take pride in myself and continue my work, my mission of bringing health and happiness to the lives of the elderly.

How did COVID impact your business and how have you pivoted?

Coronavirus affected my business pretty badly. The big studios had resources to adapt much more quickly whereas I was struggling to organise online classes. However, I was able to pivot the business. I opened a Zoom scheduling account to allow me to teach anywhere in the world. This was after years of having an uncompromising belief that yoga requires direct person-to-person connection. Now I see the benefits. My digital sessions focused particularly on elderly people who may have been more isolated than ever during lockdown and centred around mobility and fall prevention to allow for that independence.

What advice would you give anyone looking to start up a business?

I would suggest searching for a mentor is the most valuable asset. Someone who will guide you, support you, but also question your ideas, your strategies, your planning, and priorities. Someone who has soft skills too, to be able not only to instruct you but also tutor, monitor you and tell you that you need counselling if that is the case. Your life experience is also a great asset as you will recognize and accept other people's help and not be too stubborn or too proud to ask for it when needed. Do not be a perfectionist, like me, just start somewhere and work from there. 

What are the key things you have learnt while starting up your business?

I have learned that I have strength, capacity, and curiosity to start anew even when the conditions are not very favourable. I must admit that I felt very depressed in summer since I couldn't find a job and I was thinking if I can stay in this country, what will happen with my marriage if I have to go back to Croatia to look for a job. I am going to be 50 next year so that didn't help when looking for a job as everybody was asking for young people. I found my self-worth, I regained self-confidence and I am more engaged than ever with different sectors in the community, searching for the best ways to serve elderly, whom we owe everything, yet they experience a lot of hardship, isolation, even ageism, age-based discrimination, etc. I found out how good I am in networking, doing research and informing people about these issues.

What would you say to anyone looking to go to a SiLL workshop/talk to their local Start-ups Champion?

I would absolutely recommend it. I think of the local start-ups Champions more as leaders since they recognise the potential in everyone, and they offer support during the process, it is not just telling you can do it. They share their authority and accountability, they connect and explore and ask how can we do things better? They listen and they ask the right questions. 

To find out more about the Start-ups in London Libraries programme and to register for one of our free workshops, visit bl.uk/SiLL