THE grandson of a Letterkenny woman who learned to make jam in her home is fast making a name for himself as one of the top young entrepreneurs in Britain.
Fraser Doherty (18) who makes a range of specialist no-added-sugar jams has just won a lucrative contract to supply his products to over 150 supermarkets across Britain for the Waitrose chain - part of the John Lewis group. A former winner of the Enterprising Young Brit (Teen Category), Fraser's products range is now sold all over the world. His company started out trading as Doherty Preserves but is now called Super Jam Ltd - an on line retailer trading as jamshop.co.uk
However, his big break came when he gained a contract to supply products to local football team, Hibernian FC. The 'Hibs' branded preserves flew off the shelves and orders continued to flood in from all over the country.
Fraser is the grandson of Listillion woman, Susan Doherty (nee O'Brien) who resides in Glasgow. He intends to visit Donegal during the summer. His grandfather Billy Doherty, a well known fiddler came from St Johnston. His grand aunts living in Letterkenny include Celia Conway (Glencar Irish), Katie Haughey (Listillion) and Jeannie O'Donnell (Listillion). A grand aunt-in-law Vera O'Brien lives in McNeely Villas. His parents Robert and Anne reside in Edinburgh along with a younger son Conor (14). Fraser is juggling his business career with studying Accountancy and Business at Glasgow University.
Speaking this week to the Donegal News Fraser stressed it was his grandmother who was the catalyst for his business career.
"I have always been a big fan of jam and since I was about eight years old I had lots of little projects on the go,
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trying different ways of making pocket money.
I suppose in some ways it was inevitable that I would start my own food business given that enterprise and food have always been my two passions in life! The catalyst came when my Gran taught me her top secret jam recipe and I had something of a 'eureka' moment when I realised I could make jam myself and sell it door to door in the local area," he said.
Fraser started Doherty Preserves in December 2003 after being shown his gran's well loved marmalade.
"I began to sell marmalade, made to my Gran's secret recipe, along with several other products that I had created myself, to family, friends and neighbours. The products proved highly popular and my tiny customer base urged me to capitalise upon this and grow the business. I acknowledged that there was a huge market for my luxury products and began to sell them door to door in the local area. This was so successful that within a matter of months I had to enlist the help of four of my friends," he said.
"Sales grew steadily over the following few months and I began to develop more unusual products, such as Kiwi, Lime & Ginger Preserve. After setting up a website (www.JamShop.co.uk), I received a telephone call from the UKTV Food Channel, requesting a few pots of my products to include in a tasting session on the Good Food Live programme. The products were so highly commended by food expert Sarah-Jane Evans of the BBC's Good Food Magazine that orders began to flood in from all over the country. At this point I realised that the business had far more potential than I had ever anticipated.
Following the TV appearance of the products Doherty Preserves began to gain interest from several trade customers and orders started to come in from as far away as Hungary.
"However, the most exciting development was that I gained a contract to supply my products to a local football team, Hibernian FC. The 'Hibs' branded preserves flew off the shelves and orders continued to flood in from all over the country. In acknowledgement of the success of my business, I was awarded the Enterprising Young Brit (Teen Category) Award at a ceremony in London. The competition was entered by thousands of other young people. The judges, including Michelle Mone, the City Editor of the Daily Mail and several senior figures from the Treasury and Lloyd's TSB, decided that I deserved the title the most. The prestigious award was presented to me by Gordon Brown," he added.
"Following the award I have received a tremendous deal of media interest. Articles have been written about me in many of the national and regional newspapers such as; The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Mail, The Edinburgh Evening News, The Times, The Herald, The Scotsman, The Record, The Metro and I have been spoken about on Real Radio and the BBC's Working Lunch programme. I have even received interest from several television companies and may be involved in some exciting programmes in future. All of this media attention has been fantastic for business and has fuelled significant growth in the firm over the past eight months," he said.
Fraser was due to appear yesterday (Thursday) on the Channel 4 'This Morning' Programme and may appear on the Richard and Judy show within the next few weeks.
Doherty's Preserves' range now includes thirteen products, including such innovations as Strawberry & Chilli Dessert Sauce and an award-winning locally produced honey. So what's his advice to anyone else who wants to make their idea happen?
"At 18, I don't really think I'm in a position to give you my philosophy of life or anything like that, and I also don't believe that there's any secret to making a business a success. What I will say, though, is that I don't think there's anything inherently difficult about having an idea, starting a business or growing it into a career. The difficulty lies in motivating yourself to get up in the mornings and keep working at the idea until it is finally a success. Anyone could achieve what I have with just a lot of hard work and a bit of imagination. You really don't need to reinvent the wheel and the best businesses are usually very simple.
"I started mine in an afternoon with a dozen oranges and a bag of sugar," he said.
"That was something anyone could have done, but it's something which has taken a lot of hard work, sacrifice and determination to make into what it is today. I suppose people should just give their idea a shot and if it doesn't work out, try something else. It also helps if you're laid back about the money side of things. I couldn't care less if my business makes me rich or not. If I'm honest, I probably earned minimum wage for the first couple of years of running my business, but I'm not doing any of this so I can buy a Ferrari or a big house. I'm doing it because I really enjoy the challenge and the satisfaction that comes from making a product that thousands of people enjoy on their toast every morning. If I didn't love what I'm doing, and if I ever stopped to think about how much I was earning, the business wouldn't be where it is today.
"There's no way I'd have got out of bed at 6am every Saturday and Sunday to go to farmers' markets if I'd been thinking about the money!"
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