SuperJam-Fraser Doherty
Fraser Doherty is a Scottish entrepreneur from Edinburgh who founded SuperJam. SuperJam is a company that uses traditional recipes to create a range of 100% pure fruit jams, which are sweetened with grape juice and made using superfruits such as blueberries and cranberries. He started his incredible business career at the age of just fourteen. Fraser was taught how to make 100% fruit jam by his grandmother, and that is where he found the inspiration to start SuperJam. At the age of 16, he presented his brand to Waitrose, which is a British supermarket, and went on to be the youngest ever supplier to a major supermarket. SuperJam has since grown to be a very successful company that has sold many millions of jars through thousands of supermarkets. Fraser says that starting SuperJam has been such an incredible adventure. He said he never could have imagined that what he started as a hobby in his parents’ tiny kitchen would grow into something so big. Here is a quote from Fraser that I think is a great way to look at entrepreneurship, “I think so long as you have a good idea and believe in yourself enough to give it a shot, you stand a chance of learning a huge amount. Maybe your idea won’t work out the first time but if you’re always willing to change it or come up with something else, you’re bound to create something successful.”
Interesting post! It is difficult to improve a product as common as jam but Fraser was able to add something unique through tradition recipes and his own expertise. I think he was so successfully because found something that he was passionate about and invested time and energy into making the best jam he could.
This is a great example for how the simple things we learn from friends and family may actually be market genius if they can be reproduced at scale.
This shows how something that every household has can be improved to be even better than it already is. You understand how the business started and how it works. Fraser found something that most people do not really look at the ingredients for and made it better for you as well as less sugars while improving the flavors because you have the actual natural flavors of the fruit.
Fraser’s story is so interesting. It’s really cool that he trusted his vision enough to drop out of school, and became a billionaire by 18. He was able to make something simple and common into a totally new product.
I love how this isn’t some huge innovation or groundbreaking business. It takes something small and makes it a little better. While it still is innovation, it shows that entrepreneurship doesn’t have to solve massive problems. It can take a much smaller approach to it.
I love this post as it really shows that quality in a product can go a long way. Jam is not an uncommon food but when Doherty added his special kick to jam, he was able to create an unbelievably successful business. Quality is sometimes all it takes!