Khadija is joined by the youngest ever apprentice finalist and founder of M+LKplus, Camilla Ainsworth. Khadija and Camilla Keep It Real by discussing her journey from Apprentice finalist to successful business owner and what she’s learnt along the way. They discuss the difficulties small business face and the mindset needed to succeed in taking your small business venture to the next level.
Two flavours in the range that solidified M+Lkplus as a brand
KEY TAKEAWAYS
After the apprentice, Camilla was approached by Holland & Barrett who expressed an interest in launching her M+LKplus brand in stores nationwide. However, it took a lot of work and persistence to get this done. Now Camilla had launched a new flavour of M+LKplus into 645 Holland & Barrett stores successfully.
As a small business dealing with large corporate brands can be difficult as you don't always know who you’re dealing with and who to contact.
Camilla had some difficulty sourcing the vegan packaging she wanted and in-fact it did not make business sense, she has since sourced recyclable plastic bottle making her product event more environmentally friendly.
Camilla has dealt with lots of challenges when launching her M+LKplus especially as it’s a product with a shelf life, packaging requirements and needs to be stored at a certain temperature.
Camilla is now expanding her business acumen into sponsorship, public speaking, working with charities and going into local schools to conduct workshops.
M+LKplus will soon be launching another product that will disrupt the market and is different from M+LKplus existing products.
BEST MOMENTS
“It’s still a novelty going into a shopping centre and seeing your product”
Camilla regularly buys her own product and loves every second of it.
“Don’t get caught up in the limelight and ensure you’re only doing the things that will benefit your business.”
“I want to disrupt the market even further and I know what’s popular with the public”
“People in the apprentice are a lot more clever than they’re given credit for”
“My brand is all about women empowerment”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
https://mylkplus.com
https://www.instagram.com/camillaainsworth/
ABOUT THE HOST
Keep it real with Khadija is an interview-based podcast hosted by Khadija Kalifa. As a BBC Apprentice finalist and busy Mumpreneur, Khadija is on a mission to build an empire whilst raising two children, inspiring others to make their passion their profession. Khadija speaks openly about how she grew up in an underprivileged area, turned her daughter’s birth trauma into a motivational story, and became a BBC Apprentice finalist, successful business mentor, motivational speaker, property investor and podcast host. Guests of the show speak candidly about life, business, mental health, mindset and making the most of every opportunity.
CONTACT
Www.keepitrealwithkhadija.com
Www.facebook.com/keepitrealwithkhadija
Email: keepitrealwithkhadija@gmail.com / info@keepitrealwithkhadija.com
LinkedIn Khadija Kalifa
Instagram Khadija Kalifa
Twitter Khadija Kalifa
ABOUT THE GUEST
A former student of law, Camilla is passionate about health and wellbeing, M+LKPLUS was created to fulfil a personal need, and now seeks to offer the product to a wider audience. Camilla is a huge advocator for women in business and has conducted workshops to facilitate start-ups. In addition to running her nut m+lk empire, Camilla was on last years ‘The Apprentice’ on BBC One and at just 22 she became the youngest ever finalist in the shows 14-year history!
M+LKPLUS is here to disrupt the dairy-free alternative nut m+lk market! The product concept developed whilst our founder was in Australia working on a cow farm as part of the three-month regional work needed to obtain a second-year visa. Two weeks in a rash all over her arms and back emerged and Camilla discovered it was due to dairy intolerance. As she set out on a mission looking for an exciting dairy alternative, all she could find was plain almond milk full of sugars and additives with lacklustre branding. Thus, the idea to create a super-sassy ‘grab and go’ nut m+lk in a variety of different nut choices and flavours was created! There is nothing like it around, dairy alternatives are on a huge growth trajectory and that is why we exist!
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