Name: Natalia Welch
Based: Sheffield
Website: www.purapanela.com
Pura Panela is purely dehydrated organic sugar cane juice with no added chemicals or additives. It is a natural nutritional sweetener and natural source of antioxidants, protein, vitamins and essential minerals such as calcium and iron. Setting up Pura Panela has been a fascinating journey - from the initial business idea to discovering how other people are always willing to help.
Knowing that I did not have any money to seriously think about doing the business, I shared my idea with the University of Sheffield. I won the first prize of £1,000 for a business concept. It was all I had to start with. Pura Panela came to life with its hummingbird and its tropical plumage!
The university gave me the opportunity to access free office space at the Kroto Innovation Centre, which has been significantly to the business. I have now left my job to completely commit to the business.
Now Pura Panela is available at some coffee shops and restaurants in Sheffield. We have been to different street markets and Christmas markets and have had very positive feedback.
Recently, during Business Sheffield sessions I met David who is now my commercial agent. He has been a very important part of the development and potential growth of the business. He contacted a distributor of coffee for big organisations such as Waitrose, John Lewis and Lakeland. Appealing to their history of support to small business with a social interest, the distributor is about to pitch Pura Panela to them.
Natalia Welch is the founder of Pura Panela
