Fraser Doherty started making jam from his grandmother's recipes
at the age of 14 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Now six years later,
Fraser's jam business is a huge commercial success, selling across
the UK .
A great place to live and work
Despite travelling widely in the UK and abroad, Fraser is still
based in Edinburgh.
He says: "I think that Edinburgh is a great place to live and
work. It would be hard to have as good a quality of life in a
bigger city and it would be hard to build as good a support network
anywhere smaller.
"I have had a huge amount of support
from my home city. A lot of successful entrepreneurs from the city
have been willing to spend time with me, sharing their
experiences.
"The City of Edinburgh
Council and Edinburgh
Leisure are also big supporters of our charity,
The SuperJam Tea Parties".
The start of SuperJam
Fraser explains how it began: "My gran thought it would be fun
if she showed me how to make jam. I loved it and went out to see if
I could sell the few jars I had made.
"I sold them all to the neighbours in our street and it grew and
grew.
"Pretty soon I was producing a thousand jars of jam a week from
my mum and dad's kitchen".
As Fraser's jam output kept growing, it was time to move to
larger premises. He did a deal with a factory who now produce his
product – SuperJam.
Scottish SuperJams
Despite his commercial success, Fraser has stayed true to his
principles of creating healthy, Scottish-inspired jams. He now
sells three jams: blueberry and
blackcurrant, rhubarb and
ginger, and cranberry and
raspberry and has kept pretty close to his gran's
original Scottish recipes.
He says: "The best raspberries come from Scotland and marmalade
as we know it (slightly bitter, with shreds of orange peel) is a
Scottish invention, so the recipes are very much influenced by
Scotland."
Fraser keeps his jams as healthy as possible. There are no
refined sugars in them, only natural fruit juices. The fruits he
uses, like cranberries and blueberries, contain naturally high
levels of antioxidants and taste great too.
Growing up in Edinburgh
Fraser grew up in the Davidson's Mains area of Edinburgh and
feels some of his success has been helped by the attitude of those
around him when he was starting his business.
He says: "Edinburgh is a great place for kids to grow up
in. It is a very safe city for kids to play in the streets and
takes no time at all to get to the countryside.
"My teachers at school were very supportive of me when I was
setting up a company at only fourteen years of age.
"I've been amazed by the number of people willing to share their
experience with me in Edinburgh, but also in Scotland in
general".
Giving something back
Fraser cites his business inspiration as Body Shop founder,
Anita
Roddick.
He says: "When she was alive she proved you could make a
successful business and keep it ethical.
"The fact that she gave all her money to charity says everything
about her. I'd like to run my business that way".
Fraser is certainly starting out as he means to go on, having
already set up a charity called The SuperJam Tea Parties to help
housebound elderly people across the UK get more out of life.
Fraser says: "When my gran originally made jam, she took it to
the old folks homes in her area in Glasgow.
"She would take my brother and I with us - it was this
experience of visiting the elderly that inspired me to set up our
charity.
"Since April 2008, we have run well over 100 events, with up to
500 guests at each, all over Scotland, England and Wales. We have
live music, dancing and, of course, SuperJam and scones!
"The guests have a wonderful afternoon every time, and are
grateful for the opportunity to make new friends. One guest even
said that it made him 'feel like a person again', since he had made
a new group of friends".
Find out more about opportunities to LIVE,
STUDY,
INVEST
and VISIT
Edinburgh.
