Marie-Anne is the co-founder of the multi-award winner, My Gammie’s, FreeFrom All 14 Allergens (Vegan) Bakery.  Her 25+ years’ experience as a specialised London Market business consultant has been an asset for driving the business from a home business start up to a full blown bakery within 3 years. 

 

In partnership with her daughter, Marie-Anne entered My Gammie’s business concept into the 10th Efactor Entrepreneurship 2015 Award at the University of East London.  They won first prize.  In the Free From Food Award 2018 competition, their cupcake won the Gold award in the category of the “Top 14 allergens” and their celebration cake won Silver.   

 

Marie-Anne is a qualified Master Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Coach and has been coaching and mentoring others for years.  She graduated as a Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach in 2020 adding another facet to My Gammie’s baking allowing nutrient optimization of their products. 

 

Writing articles and books are also part of Marie-Anne’s repertoire with a read-worthy list of self-published books based on profession and self-development. Marie-Anne continues to write and share her prowess with a focus on nutrition and allergens. 

 

Marie-Anne is the problem solver of her family and social circles and the nuclei of which everyone gravitates towards. She provides pragmatic and unbiased guidance that proves to be invaluable in the long run.

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My background and experience

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• Leaving my homeland, Mauritius, and settling in England in early 1980s, I started my journey from scratch and attended university for 4 years as a mature student with two young children.

• I developed my career in the London Market (Lloyds of London) for over 25 years in roles such as Business Analyst, Project Manager, Business Technology Manager and Lead Consultant.

• From being an employee, I transitioned into the freelance world of consultancy and set up my first business, s-MAR-t BA, in 2009.

• From as far as I can remember, I have been progressing my self-development completing many professional and personal qualifications along the way.

• The culmination of all these years, both on the professional and personal levels, came to a peak when my second business, My Gammie’s, was born in 2015. 

 

Why I started my business

 

As a co-founder with my daughter, I know exactly what it feels like to have a food sensitivity or allergy to live with.  My grand-daughter has been the inspiration of the business having developed a fatal peanut allergy and other food intolerances from an early age.  We have struggled finding food products that are not only enjoyable to the senses but varied in their types to feed her to the point that she avoided eating anything at nursery.  Our only choice was to start cooking/baking like for like food that her peers were having in educational as well as social setups.  I started baking bread for her whilst my daughter took care of food, cakes and snacks.  We soon realised that there were no other products like ours on the market and that people were willing to buy them.  And so, the concept of My Gammie’s was born.  ‘Gammie’ is what my granddaughter calls me – a mix of French and English meaning grandmother.  My Gammie’s is a literal translation of “My Grandmother’s”… bread, cake, snacks etc.

 

The problem the business addresses is to provide baked food choices to those people with food sensitivities and allergies.  Our unique selling point is that our products are free from all the 14 main allergens as specified by the Food Standards Agency and which does not have the small print of “may contain….”.   We use ingredients that are close to their natural state and we do not add any preservatives or additives or any man-made alternatives to substitute allergens.   

 

My proudest achievements in business

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• Being first and winning the award of the Best Business idea of the University of East London Efactor Entrepreneurship in 2015. 

• Launching My Gammie’s at London Olympia Free From and Allergy event in 2017 with only 5 weeks of preparation and managing to compete on equal footing with the giants and capturing huge interest from customers. Our products were unique at the event.

• Winning the Gold award in the category of ‘Free From Top 14 allergens” for our cupcake and Silver for our celebration cake in the Free From Food Award 2018.

• Moving the business from baking at home to a fully equipped commercial bakery in 2018.

• Delivering nationwide in 2020 from previously delivering in the London area only.  This is a major achievement as this broadens our reach and provides products to customers that were otherwise limited in their purchasing ability.

• Our continued delivery throughout Covid-19 lockdown.

 

I can speak on the following topics:

 

• Producing appetising and nutrient-rich food free from all 14 main allergens.

• Creating a step by step plan to realise a business concept to materialise.

• Methodologies to achieve a business’ full potential by overcoming personal barriers, values and beliefs.

• How to transform an employee mentality into the mind-set of an independent business owner.

• Using Nutrition to promote Wellness and Longevity.

• Managing difficult relationships in a business.

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Contact Marie-Anne directly on: Marie-anne@mygammies.com

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