A Derry woman who has helped many with chronic pain through essential oils has praised the initiative that helped her kickstart her business.
Jenna Devine is the owner of Devine Scents Ltd in Derry and is one of Derry City & Strabane District Council's Business Innovation & Growth programme's success stories.
With Jenna's first premises off to a flying start, her next plan is to open a second store, with the goal to create more employment in other cities in Northern Ireland.
She continues to export Irish products worldwide, with regular orders in Dubai, Australia and America.
Jenna is a qualified herbalist, and through her business she develops essential oil products to help with different pains such as arthritis and fibromyalgia.
Her products have also found favour with parents of autistic children, who have been able to come off melatonin thanks to her products.
Jenna credits the Council's Business Innovation & Growth programme for helping her grow her business and is encouraging other businesses to get on board.
The concept for Devine Scents began when Jenna was making wax melts for friends and family.
The responses were overwhelmingly positive, with endless messages from people saying how calming these melts were.
This got Jenna thinking about what would happen if she began to use essential oils instead; as these penetrate the skin and go into the brain, benefitting the body in endless ways.
With a thirst for self-education, Jenna enrolled on both a Diploma in Essential Oils for Business, as well as a Herbal Product Making Diploma.
These, coupled with a psychology degree, have set Jenna up for success in business.
This journey led Jenna to the Business Innovation & Growth programme. When Jenna initially registered for the programme she was working from home, but the business was growing rapidly.
Jenna said: "When we first started the business, it was click and collect from my front door. When we began getting queues around the block, we realised needed to get premises.
"Our business was beyond start-up stage, so we were not eligible for financial grants. The practical advice through the free BIG programme really was a welcome pillar of support. Small business owners regularly approach me and the advice I always give them is to take advantage of this support."
Jenna had left her job one week before the first lockdown to focus on her business, and with her time taken up keeping the business afloat, she availed of the BIG programme to gain one-to-one support on securing premises, employment rights, contracts and tax.
Jenna said: "The BIG programme took the pressure off me and allowed me to focus my attentions on creating more products and ultimately helping more people.
"Not only customers have benefited from the business. I employ two single mothers, and as I am empathetic to their needs, I am able to exercise more flexibility and understanding to their time constraints than other employers may be able to."
For more Derry news, visit our new site MyDerry.
