Mammy Jamia’s is a “Good News” story about a fantastic range of Premium Preserves developed by me Andrew and my wife Sajmira Cairns. We currently live on the Wirral.

Mammy Jamia’s all came about when I received a gift of some Preserves from my Mother in Law Jamia. Jamia has been making Preserves for her friends and family for a long time and she had a wonderful family recipe.

What struck us were the unusual but very tasty flavours. I took some to my own family to see what they thought. I knew I would get some honest feedback. They loved it. This got me thinking and I decided to do some research. I went to some local supermarkets and I noticed that they didn’t sell the flavours I had been given by Mammy Jamia. The flavours are Fig, Apple and Pear. I wondered if there might be a gap in the market. We had the recipe but I didn’t have the skill to make Preserves on a large scale. I therefore decided to send the recipe to an established producer to have some made which I would then try and sell in a local indoor market in Cheshire. It was very important to us that the company was well established and that the range of flavours would be made to the highest of standards and that the flavours we had created would be as tasty as possible. We got 600 Jars made and every Saturday morning for 6 weeks after working all week at my normal day job Sajmira and I set up a stall. We sold all 600 Jars in 7 weeks. We collected questionnaires asking people if they liked the flavours, what they thought of the price and would they buy Mammy Jamia’s if it was sold in a supermarket. The resounding responses were extremely positive.

We sent some samples of the Mammy Jamia’s range to various supermarkets and eventually

to our delight Sajmira and I were invited into Sainsbury’s Head Office in London to pitch to the Head of Preserves Buying. We did a great pitch and the buyer loved Mammy Jamia’s. She said we had a fantastic product and all we needed to do was create some suitable commercial labels. I did that by contacting a local graphic designer from a Company called Igoo and we paid for the work by receiving a help from Wirral Biz. They were offering grants for people who completed a course on running your own business and completing a business plan.

During this time Mammy Jamia’s was showcased at the Conservative Party conference prior to the recent General election and we received some excellent feedback which really encouraged us.

After a second pitch and lots of hard work Sainsbury’s agreed to stock Mammy Jamia’s in 216 stores Nationwide. Mammy Jamia's has been on sale for 9 months now with some excellent initial sales figures selling at least 1000 jars a week on average and Mammy Jamia’s has been listed as one of the most popular Preserves Sainsbury’s currently sells.

Setting up a business isn’t easy and it takes lots of thoughtful preparation but Sajmira and I are 2 young people who have managed to build a viable commercial product from just an idea. We have created a product and taken it from an indoor market in Cheshire to 216 Sainsbury's and 150+ Waitrose stores across the UK as well as soon being available at the online grocer Ocado

When researching current government business initiatives and ideas regarding small businesses I came across this statement, “The Government believes that business is the driver of economic growth and innovation, and that we need to take urgent action to boost enterprise, support green growth and build a new and more responsible economic model. We want to create a fairer and more balanced economy, where we are not so dependent on a narrow range of economic sectors, and where new businesses and economic opportunities are more evenly shared between regions and industries”.

We are in challenging economic times however I think this story does show that if you have an idea, and if you have the passion to give something a try as well as a good plan then you might just succeed.

We are very grateful for the support we have received from local business, local business support groups, the university my wife attended, our employers and of course Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Best Regards

Andrew & Sajmira Cairns