Alex is with Gouri Kubair who moved from a successful corporate career to successful entrepreneur with Holylama spices.
She shares her journey through life talking candidly about both the inspirational moments and the challenges along the way.
As someone who has worked successfully in both the corporate and entrepreneurial space, Gouri discusses the differences and how the continual learning process has made her life richer and helped her to understand the value of mindfulness in finding the right way to move forward.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
The milestones we have achieved as a company have kept me going and I have learned lots along the way.
When you are in business it’s a continual learning process.
If you are not enjoying your work then you should be aiming to make a change.
You need to have people around you who are supportive when you are starting in business.
Being an entrepreneur has great flexibility but it provides great financial challenges.
When you start in business you are investing in yourself.
You have to alter your mindset and move from risk-averse to being a risk-taker.
You can use all the skills you have from the corporate world as an entrepreneur.
Mindfulness can help you face your fears and move forward.
Outsourcing can be an effective way to free up your time for activities that will generate new business.
Everyone has to find the right way forward for them.
The definition of success is different for everyone and the journey is as important as the destination.
BEST MOMENTS
‘You have to visit a country to know exactly how it is, a village is not the same as a city’
‘When you are in business for yourself you get instant feedback about the effort you are making’
‘I have learnt so much and my life is so much richer’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Business, Wealth and Mindset podcast series
Holylama Website
ABOUT THE GUEST
GOURI KUBAIR
Gouri Kubair is the third generation of the family that pioneered the essential oils industry in India. Her grandfather was the first person to cultivate vetivert (a long tall grass) on a commercial basis to extract the oils. From these beginnings has grown a successful family business called Holy Lama Naturals which makes a natural body care range based on the ancient principles of Ayurveda and a unique range of highly concentrated natural extracts of herbs, spices flowers and fruits used in cooking called Holy Lama Spice Drops®.
Gouri (40) grew up in Kerala with her younger sister and parents who continued to develop and grow the business extending the range of essential oils they worked with and their uses. She watched as together they worked up the beauty range and began to experiment with oils for cooking. With success, more help was needed and it was Vijaya, Gouri’s mother who set up the manufacturing unit as a Government-recognized women’s enterprise, supporting and empowering marginalized women in the local community, something the business still proudly does today.
Although naturally interested in the family firm, Gouri chose to spread her wings and trained to become a chartered accountant in India where she worked for Deloitte before moving with the company to the UK. For over a decade she worked as an auditor and during this time met her husband, Anirudha, and had her two children, Neha and Ashwin.
Perhaps it was having children of her own but the lure of working for the family business became too much and in 2013 Gouri left her comfortable job with Deloitte to further her family’s ethical business bringing the natural skincare range and Holy Lama Spice Drops® to the European market.
During the last seven years, Gouri has worked hard to develop the reputation of the Holy Lama Naturals name. As a result, over half the 36-strong range of Spice Drops has been awarded either one or two stars at the Great Taste Awards and eminent chefs such as Nigella Lawson, Rachel Khoo, Tom Kerridge and Cyrus Todiwala have recommended using them. In 2016 Gouri gave Holy Lama Spice Drops® a whole new brand image which is both contemporary and fun while maintaining its Indian roots and the quality of the product. Holy Lama Spice Drops® have continued to grow in popularity and some varieties have even made an appearance on the Great British Bake Off.
Holy Lama Spice Drops® are available online from Ocado and Amazon, as well as holylama.co.uk and in some Whole Foods Markets.
ABOUT THE HOST
Alex is a prize-winning chartered accountant with experience in financial markets from trading finance, capital hedging, structural foreign exchange and interest rates to operational risk from the world’s top financial and advisory institutions including Deloitte, RBS and JPMorgan Chase
Alex has been involved in property development programmes across different types since 2008, building and managing a portfolio that includes standard buy-to-lets, student accommodation and other houses in multiple occupancy (HMOs).
He specialises in raising finance, providing potential investors, investors and joint venture partners with ad hoc (to their specific requirements), hands-free and hassle-free property investments solutions as well as coaching and mentoring
Alex aspires to share business and financial knowledge with upcoming entrepreneurs and experienced business minds to learn and master the concepts and mindsets required to succeed, stand-out, have the edge and make a difference.
Alex is also a keen traveller, cyclist and photographer.
CONTACT METHOD
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/alexsapalaofficial/
Twitter - @alex_sapala
https://twitter.com/alex_sapala
You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZ1DCPGAu5c2yhOkfGZRSQ
