Starting SMALL

Learn how three women launched their successful businesses from next to nothing

- KIM WILLIS

‘I invested £250 in a whisk and ingredients’

Harriot Pleydell-Bouverie, 35, from north London, runs the confectionery company Mallow & Marsh.

Setting my marshmallow mix into a doughnut mould, I had sugar all over the kitchen table and a tasty selection of blue, bacon and traditional flavoured marshmallows ready to impress my course mates. It was the summer of 2012 and I was halfway through a two-day business course in London. Back then, I worked in various PR jobs in the City but I’d always dreamed of setting up my own company.

On the first day, an ice-breaking exercise had us shouting out random ideas for businesses, with someone suggesting marshmallows. The idea got under my skin and that night, after looking up recipes, I made up some samples. They were a big hit. Once the course was over, I invested £250 in a whisk and ingredients, and began cooking, and decided to call my brand Mallow & Marsh.

The following year, I was commissioned to make marshmallows for a stand at Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival. I made about 10kg of different flavours, like salted caramel, raspberry and vanilla. The batch sold out in two hours!

I spent the next few months learning everything I could about business – and at night, I’d make marshmallows to sell at markets and in bespoke boxes for parties and events. Around the same time, I pitched to win a one-year listing at Sainsbury’s, asking to stock 20 local stores. In September 2013, Sainsbury’s called to tell me I’d won. I took out a loan to get the first packaging run ready, and as I prepared to launch, I realised what a lifechanging moment this was.