8 minute read
As market awareness increases demand for fine wine grows
SOPHISTICATED: Arlene King sharing her knowledge
My love for wine began after my first vintage fine
wine tasting experience in 1998. It was pure perfection in a glass which led me wanting to understand more about wine. How it is produced and what makes a good wine. I started my journey into the world of wine, studying at the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and now currently with The Court of Master Sommeliers.
Prior to my studies in wine, I began my professional career in fashion by representing my country, Jamaica, as well, studying business, and immediately after I worked on new projects mainly for start-up companies.
It was first the love of fashion that brought me to the UK. Little did I know that fashion would have led me to a career in wine which became my new love.
It is incredible to learn about wine’s history, the terrain, and all the elements within the parameters of the vine that determine what we receive in a glass. While I studied at WSET, I was offered a role as an office manager, and then I was promoted to wine buyer for a fine wine company. My main role was to liaise with leading wine merchants in the UK, as well as those in France and Switzerland. I also worked closely with private clients. In 2005, the fine wine market started growing at a rapid rate. It became more and more popular around the world. China, Hong Kong, and Singapore’s involvement changed the world of wine as we see today. As market awareness increases, demand for fine wine grows and the palates are becoming more and more sophisticated. In response to the industry’s growth, I saw a business opportunity and in 2013 Our Sommelier was formed.
The company’s aim was to offer a personal sommelier service to clients who love to entertain, loves luxury and want a better understanding of fine wine. We also deliver directly to your door from the vineyards. Our Sommelier now trades vintage fine wine on a global platform, offers personal sommelier services, as well advises our clients on how best to store their wines. We also host wine tasting events. n
In 2021, Our Sommelier won Best Online Wine Merchant at the SME UK Enterprise Awards as well as I was awarded the French
Wine Scholar scholarship from The Taylor’s Port Golden Vines.
The entrepreneur who believes you can achieve anything
Multi-millionaire Roy Ledgister achieved success after discovering a self-help book when he was 12. Now he aims to help other aspiring business owners
It’s hard to find a successful entrepreneur
who doesn’t believe in their own abilities. Just take a look at Michael Jordan, Jay Z, Oprah Winfrey Daymond John for example – all people who have been hailed for the self-belief they exude.
Roy Ledgister, the multi-millionaire founder and CEO of innovative property and tech investment firm, Convivia Group, is another entrepreneur who embodies the ethos that “if you can believe it, you can achieve it”.
He founded Convivia, a company which has secured multi-million pound investments to revolutionise the delivery of sustainable affordable homes, after becoming the UK’s youngest senior law partner at the age of 24 and then later qualifying as a barrister.
The 48-year-old’s mother, Joyce, who moved to
Britain from the Caribbean in the 1960s, worked hard to raise him and his older sister Tracey to believe that they could accomplish anything they set their minds to despite the tough circumstances the family faced.
Ledgister was just 12-years-old when his interest in business was first peaked by a self-help audiobook, The Magic of Thinking Big by David J
Schwartz that had been given to his mother. “My mum is not entrepreneurial in the slightest but I listened to it. And this tape was saying, ‘It doesn’t matter about your age, you can achieve anything you want with the right principles’. I didn’t fully understand everything that was being said but I was hooked. While my friends were talking about Snoop Dogg, I’d be listening to these tapes every night before going to bed.”
He quickly began to apply these new insights launching a car washing business at 14, a venture that made him “a decent amount of money”.
Continuing to apply these ideas to his own life enabled Ledgister to reach some impressive milestones.
Now he is aiming to give away £1 million as part of a YouTube show he has created called Millionaire Mentor. THE POWER OF SELF-BELIEF: Entrepreneur Roy Ledgister The series will give five selected young entrepreneurs an initial £200,000 investment and regular mentorship to help hone their business knowledge and experience. He says: “I was born into a black Caribbean single parent household. However, the ‘self-help’ tools I discovered at the tender age of 12, made me realise that my background was a strength, and not an impediment. “I now want to share these lessons with individuals from deprived backgrounds to show them that they too don’t need to be shaped by where they come from as long as they have the resolve to succeed.” n
For further details about Millionaire Mentor, visit: www.millionaire-mentor.co.uk
Representation of biracial children
My name is
Diana and I am the Creator of Mélange Dolls. My background is within the fashion industry as a fashion designer
and technical designer.
I started this journey when I wanted to buy a doll for my Goddaughter who is mixed race/biracial and struggled to find one that was representative of her. Her parents expressed the same concerns in that they too had that problem and were also forced to buy dolls that were either Black or White. My research showed that very few manufactures made dolls that were representative of mixed race/biracial children. This for me was a problem which needed to be solved.
I believe it is very important to have dolls that are representative of all children and to as much as possible incorporate features that represents them. This to me is important as it will have an impact on the children’s confidence and self-esteem. Mélange means a blend or mixture of colours. My current collection consists of four types of mixed race/biracial dolls. Two of the dolls comes with black curly hair and two with dark brown curly hair. Two of the dolls also have freckles.
For me it is my dream that all children have toys that represents them. I believe that this creates building blocks which enables them to grow up to be confident, secure, positive but most importantly proud of their individuality and diversity to eventually blossom into beautiful, strong and successful people.
From the outset my focus was to produce a collection of dolls that are beautiful with realistic looking features; durable and also wearing stylish and high quality clothes. The fabrics and trims are personally sourced by myself. I also design and produce the clothes.
A limited amount of fabrics is sourced to facilitate a regular and consistent change in styles and outfits. Therefore, all styles are designed, handmade and are a limited edition. Mélange Dolls have been in operation for over three years and have been sold all over the world. Feedback on the quality of the dolls has been phenomenal, receiving 100% ‘five star’ reviews. This has encouraged me to expand on the brand and to make new introductions to the Mélange Dolls family. By summer 2022 we will introduce two boy dolls. These are currently in production and we are very excited about this new addition.
Mélange dolls represent the vibrancy and the multicultural aspects of children with mixed heritage. They inspire confidence in the child as well as send a positive message to their peers. We believe it is important for a child to have a range of dolls within their collection as it promotes inclusivity, diversity and acceptance. n
Black Gifted Network celebrates National Lottery Funding
The Black Gifted Network (BGN)
based in South Norwood, celebrates after being awarded £9,975 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
BGN are using their funding to launch the Black Mentoring Association, which provides a central web platform and network for Black and minority mentoring organisations, to highlight & provision their services to the community. Studies show that mentoring makes a large impact in assisting participants to achieve their goals. However, the impact of the pandemic has caused several mentoring organisations to suspend or close their operations.
The pilot project will provide support to over 100 Mentoring organisations, who in turn serves well over 12,000 mentees a year through mentoring. The pilot includes a STEM initiative to mentor around 100 students to obtain a tech-certification in digital marketing, websites, or mobile applications, thereby increasing their job prospects.
The association website and selective project deliverables have already been completed. BGN now plan to seek further funding, sponsorship, and partners to scale up their operations. Their plan features a Mentoring Academy that serves the entire mentoring alumni, reporting on mentoring programs, interventions, and outcomes via a consolidated mentoring dashboard. The academy will deploy Mentees on charitable & commercial engagements: from R&D, digital marketing to websites & mobile applications, providing invaluable experience, all under professional mentoring supervision.
Paul Johnson - Founder of BGN says, “The response we’ve received from Mentoring practitioners and the community has been so overwhelming, that we’re launching a campaign to encourage more volunteers, to Mentor within our member organisations”.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. The National Lottery Community Fund distributes a share of this to projects to support people and communities to prosper and thrive.
Johnson says: “The National Lottery funders, only took a fortnight to approve the grant, so that our members can start to overcome the impact of covid and continue to make a big difference to people’s lives.”
During the pandemic, in 2020 alone, The National Lottery Community Fund distributed almost £1 billion to charities and community organisations across the UK. n
