Sweet Solutions Stevia Ltd is a business run in Scotland by Myself Sarahjane Duffy. But I would like to tell you how it all started.
Myself and a very good Friend Claire, who have been friends for over 25 years now had often talked about starting a business together, and although Claire has since moved on to other ventures, this is how it all came about.
I was researching into a natural alternative to sugar as my dad had Type II Diabetes and was struggling with his sweet tooth. I came across a sweetener called stevia which could only be bought from America, as it had not yet been passed in the EU at that time. It cost a lot of money, but after reading everything I could find about out it, I thought that it would be worth a try. My family were all at their wits ends trying to come up with ways to help my dad, who’s health was gradually getting worse from the Diabetes.
At the same time, Claire had taken time out to go travelling, a dream she had always wanted to fulfil. Claire was in Brazil, South America, when I sent her an email to tell her about this new sweetener I had come across. Knowing that she also had difficulty with a sweet tooth I wanted to let me know about it. Claire got back to me to say that funnily enough there had been small bottles on every cafe and restaurant table which she had noticed and asked the guide about. The tour guide had gone on to explain that the bottles contained stevia liquid, it was to be used to sweeten tea and coffee instead of using sugar or artificial sweeteners, none of which could be found on the tables.
Coincidence or fate? Call it what you will but we both like to think that it was fate that we both came across Stevia at the same time and half a world apart!
Stevia extract was finally passed in the EU in late 2011. At this point Claire and I were thinking about starting up our own business. We wanted to do something different and to help people at the same time. So we got busy and made up our own liquid stevia sweetener recipe. We then approached our local business gateway centre, which is a resource centre for start up companies offered by the Scottish government. They pointed us in the right direction and before we knew it our stevia product was given a grant to be tested at Caledonian University microbiology department in Glasgow. Wow! we got over a years shelf life and all was good to go.
Unfortunately in 2012 my dad passed away due to his Diabetes and a few months later Claires dad also passed away due to cancer.
Those devastating times had only driven our passion to promote our stevia product. We wanted to help bring awareness of stevia and show people that they do have a healthier alternative on offer.
Its was a health journey for us as well. We didn’t claim to have all the answers or perfect bodies. We knew first hand how hard it is to stick to a healthy eating plan and exercise regime. But if we could change a few unhealthy habits to good ones then that’s got to be a good thing!
