Big Interview
Poverty eradication through women’s empowerment
Kiran Grewal sits down with Gouri Kubair, Managing Director of Holy Lama Naturals to discuss her inspiring pursuit to bring global natural flavours to chocolatiers whilst also endeavouring to support and equip disadvantaged Indian women with independence, financial stability and transferrable skills
Q: Give us some background on Holy Lama Naturals and its mission statement.
Our Mission Statement is: Bringing innovative, natural products that excite and inspire people, and create
social
impact. This sums up exactly what
the Holy Lama Naturals business is all about. The story begins in the 1940s and spans three generations of my family. In 1948 my
grandfather migrated from near Goa to Kerala, South India, to become a pioneer in the essential oils industry. He was the on a commercial basis and it’s from here that the beginnings of my family business, distilling and using essential oils in perfumery, can be traced. Following in his father’s footsteps, my father, Vijay became
fascination with the world of essential oils and perfumery
to Aja Ney where the presiding Lama presented him with a ‘Thangkha of Lama Guru’ which symbolises good luck in Lama Naturals.
from strength to strength. My parents used their expertise in the distillation of essential oils and our family’s unique which are ideal for chocolatiers.
I chose to spread my wings and trained as a chartered family business became too much and I left my comfortable job with Deloitte in 2013 to further the family’s ethical
8 Kennedy’s Confection March 2023
“The story begins in the 1940s and spans three generations of my family”
business bringing the Spice Drops and Body Care ranges to the European market.
Q:When did the company venture into the Spice Drops Natural Extracts and where do you forecast this area of the business going? We launched Spice Drops in the UK in 2014, for both domestic home chefs and the commercial market for hospitality and food manufacturing. In the commercial arena there are so many applications
cafes, bakeries and of course chocolatiers. Consumers are
Q:Why do you believe the natural ingredients market to be an important sector right now? in October 2023, and consumers increasingly conscious of their sugar and fat intake, chocolatiers and other food
alcohol. In addition, the extraction process, which has been the raw ingredient. This means, with Spice Drops, you get
KennedysConfection.com
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