Fraser Doherty, founder of SuperJam, began his business venture when he was just fourteen years old. From the UK, Doherty learned how to make jam from his grandmother. Doherty’s genius idea was a way to make jam exclusively with fruit, with zero additives. He started by taking local orders and making the jam himself, but word soon spread, and demand greatly increased. Eventually Doherty dropped out of school to focus entirely on his business. His next move was to rent out a factory for a few days a month to begin to take bigger orders.
By the age of sixteen, he had presented SuperJam to a major UK supermarket, Waitrose, and his jam was on shelves in 184 stores soon after. In 2007, SuperJam reached $750,000 in sales, and it has continued growing since. Today SuperJam can be found in stores all around the world and the company has sold millions of jars. Through SuperJam, Doherty has also given back in multiple successful charity projects. He runs free tea parties for the elderly an has established hundreds of community beekeeping projects. Beyond selling jam, Doherty has also written books. His first, The SuperJam Cookbook, was published in August of 2010. He has since published two more books on entrepreneurship, titled SuperBusiness and 48-Hour Start-up: From idea to launch in 1 weekend.
For his success, Doherty has received countless awards, such as the Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2007 and the Bighearted Scotland Business Person of The Year in 2009. Doherty is an inspiring example of what happens when a young person has a good idea and is determined to put it into action.