Entrepreneurs can only go so far without wisdom and inspiration from outside their inner circle. Three small business owners explain what they’ve learned from other independents
On a cold December day in 2019, Aisha Jade was huddled at her stall at London’s Surrey Street Market. Earlier that year, Jade, inspired by her Jamaican roots, had launched Carisips, a brand of natural drinks spiced with Caribbean flavours such as tamarind, ginger and sorrel. “I went to the market to test trade – to get feedback from customers in order to improve the product,” she says.
Passerby Jon Quintanilla Del Mar, owner of Quintanillas’ Cordials, struck up a conversation – and generously imparted his knowledge of the sector. As well as getting her to think about the cost of her time and pricing, he told Jade “how to improve the taste and the flavours, gave me advice on manufacturing processes, preserving, even what sugar level it should be at so as to avoid the sugar tax when I get bigger as a company”, she says.