S2 Ep23: From One Room To A £10M, Hear Her Refugee Story Of Survival

Speaker A: We rented a room, so the four of us lived in one room when we first came.

Speaker B: Oh, bless you. Uh, had you effectively defected?

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: We had to kind of almost seek asylum, I guess, and say we can't go back and please let us stay.

Speaker B: Today's guest saw an opportunity worth millions of pounds, all to do with eggs.

Speaker A: I spoke to David Beckham. He knows and loves the product. And then I saw Tom Daly and I said, do you know my product? He said, every sports person knows your product.

Speaker B: Alongside her founder, she buil the brand that everybody now knows as, uh, two chicks.

Speaker A: Turnover. The first year was like 40 grand, second year maybe like 200.

Speaker B: They even rejected the Dragon's Den and they went on to build a multi million pound success and was ultimately sold to a global food giant.

Speaker A: The crazy thing is that they was in America for 30 years prior to us having it here.

Speaker B: The masterclass in spotting opportunity where everyone else sees nothing. So, so clever. Welcome. Alla Uvarova. You are, uh, one part of Two Chicks. You have a business partner.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Let's just dive into Two Chicks and the hole that you spotted in the market.

Speaker A: Uh, well, actually, it was my business partner. She was my friend at the time. She spent a few months living in LA and, you know, going to the supermarket, buying egg whites. Came back to London, couldn't find it and thought, you know, thought it'd be a good idea. There was a kind of a gap in the market. She came to me with the idea because she has an English degree and I have an economics degree. And she said, do you want to do this with me? And I, you know, I was very healthy, sporty. So I thought, actually, that sounds great. And obviously to run a business, you need different skill sets. So we had complementary skill sets that enabled us to, to start.

Speaker C: But when she said to you, do you want to get involved with egg whites? What, what did you think?

Speaker A: You know, I was, I was literally instantly struck by the idea, um, because I had just finished my economics degree and coaching tennis, um, looking for work, looking to get into finance. Really wanted to use my brain rather than coach tennis, which, you know, I've played tennis all my life. Um, and yeah, I just, I really like the idea.

Speaker C: What is it that egg whites can do for a body?

Speaker A: Well, you know, egg whites, they're super healthy. So funnily enough, when I was in Davos a couple of years ago, um, I spoke to David Beckham. He knows and loves the product. And then I saw Tom Daly and I said, do you know my product? He said, Every sports person knows your product because it's the best, purest, um, form of protein that's instantly absorbed by the body. Very high protein, but very low calories. No fat, no cholesterol. So for instance, if you have eggs, there is fat, there's cholesterol, and we

Speaker B: love in the yolk.

Speaker A: In the yolk. And we love eggs, and I love eggs. We never said don't have eggs, but you can have two eggs and then you can bulk it up with more egg white because it's just pure protein.

Speaker C: I'm, um, all over this.

Speaker B: So what I find so incredible, with all our entrepreneurs that come on this show, when they talk about their inventions or what they've achieved and holes that they spotted in the market, we just sit here and think, that's so obvious. So why on earth, uh, wasn't it in the UK when it's been in America for so long?

Speaker A: You know, it's honestly, so many people have said to me, it was so obvious, why didn't I think of it? And you know, the crazy thing is that it was in America for 30 years prior to our 7 it here. And not only did we launch in the UK, we went to other European countries, but sure enough, um, other European countries then copied us and kind of pushed us out of some of the markets. Because the thing is, egg white does exist worldwide, but it's for industry, for, you know, business to business. Uh, but not, it wasn't in small parts selling to consumers.

Speaker B: So like, for example, a factory making huge amounts of cake.

Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. They have the egg whites, they have the egg yolks. Um, so ours was just the retail.

Speaker C: So how did you meet your co founder?

Speaker A: We met at a party years ago. Yes, A few years prior to that. Because, you know, we started the business in a kind of early 20s. So we'd met just straight out of uni. We kind of just met at a party in Mayfair. Then we bumped into each other in China White.

Speaker B: Oh, China. Why? It's my old stomping grounds.

Speaker A: Oh my God, I love that place so much. Yeah.

Speaker C: Why, why do you love China? Why, why did you?

Speaker A: God, I remember being that age, you know, just walking downstairs, you suddenly just come alive.

Speaker B: It was quite, it was quite groundbreaking in the time way they did it out was like, um, sorry everybody, we're born to nightclubbing. I remember John, uh, Stephen, well, he's uh, an old, old friend of mine and he used to go to Bali and get everything back from there. It was just fabulous. Anyway, back to two chicks. So okay. So, so you, you meet your business partner and she says, I've seen this, um, in America, we've got nothing like it here.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So where do you go from there? How do you start researching it? Um, take us from there. About how the, the acorn grew into an O.

Speaker A: Well, you know, this was 2005. We didn't have Instagram at all. So it was magazines at the time. There were magazine articles talking about celebrities having egg white omelettes, like the Spice Girls having egg white omelets, but you couldn't buy egg white. And so we, we were convinced, uh, by the idea. So we went into Waterstones and we bought a book, how to write a business Plan. I have an economics degree, Anna has an English degree. So we just split it up very. She wrote everything and I did all the financials, the sales forecast and the profit and loss and, you know, how much money we needed to raise.

Speaker B: Did you start testing the supermarkets out before you knew you had a brand? How did you know anyone was going to buy it? And you must have been thinking, why isn't this here already?

Speaker A: You know, we had so many different things to do, so we had to find a manufacturer, we had to find some money. And as you say, we had to talk to the supermarkets and luckily we had a really good response. The buyers, uh, you know, saw the trends. The articles we showed them, they were

Speaker C: like, yeah, how did you find out it in the beginning?

Speaker A: So when we first read the business plan, we wanted to raise 250, 000 pounds. We wanted to have offices, we wanted to take salaries. Of course, we couldn't get a pipe dream. Yeah, exactly. So of course we couldn't get anything close. So. But we were both really convinced by the idea and we didn't want to give up. So what, you know, and it was a bit of a difficult journey, people saying no, just right, left and center. Uh, then somebody offered us 75k, but they wanted to take 75 of our business.

Speaker B: Did you have any money? Your.

Speaker A: We did have a little bit of money ourselves. We did.

Speaker B: How much did you have?

Speaker A: Well, I had probably enough to start about. No, like, you know, 20k or something, but not, you know, it was too much of a risk. Um, but in the end. So what I had done, um, in the end was I stripped everything out of the financial model. Obviously, no offices, no salaries, nothing. And I said to her, and I look, we can start on 25k. So then we got it from a family friend, but we did give away some equity, which, you know, to your point, yes, I did have it in my bank account and, you know, in hindsight, I wish I had bootstrapped and save that little bit of equity.

Speaker C: But you were nightclubbing at China White, so I can understand why you did things like that. I'm sorry. It's high bar to entry. Um, just came back to your. When you were studying economics at university, what was your original intention for your life?

Speaker A: Well, you know, I think from about the age of 13, I thought I wanted to work and go into finance. I did economics, um, at A levels. I did economics at ucl. Um. So, yeah, I thought. I just thought I wanted to go work in finance.

Speaker C: And it's just going back to your childhood, you grew up in Russia?

Speaker A: Yes, I grew up in Communist or socialist former Soviet Union.

Speaker B: Did you come from an entrepreneurial background? Was there a bit of money in the family or not?

Speaker A: You know, Russia. The funny thing is with Russia, because it was such a socialist, you know, way of life, we. Entrepreneurialism didn't exist. But actually, everyone was super entrepreneurial because we had nothing. We actually had our own flat. Lots of people live in communal flats where they have a family per room.

Speaker B: This before the wall came down and everything else. I remember seeing shots on the TV of nothing on the shelves.

Speaker A: Yes. Oh, my God, Richard, this is my funniest memory.

Speaker B: They had egg whites, right?

Speaker A: Yeah. The bonus is one of my memories. So I left Russia at the age of nine, almost 10. But one of my clearest memories is just shopkeeper, uh, you know, ladies in the shops like this, and empty shelves, you know, and you have to queue for milk and meat.

Speaker B: I remember that.

Speaker C: Were you frightened? No.

Speaker A: I mean, it was just the norm,

Speaker B: but it was just a way of life.

Speaker A: It was just a way of life. And I remember my grandmother queuing in the morning to buy milk and meat. And obviously, if you think about how much money Russia has, what crazy stupid system it was.

Speaker B: How did your parents get here at the age of nine?

Speaker A: Um. God, that's an interesting question. Yeah, yeah. It wasn't easy at all. So my dad came over first for a few months, and then he managed to find a job coaching tennis because that's what he had been doing in Russia. And they said, my mom, my brother and my sister came over, and we came over with a couple of suitcases and we actually lived in one room. Okay, I'm gonna cry now. We rented a room. So the four of us lived in one room when we first came.

Speaker B: Oh, bless you.

Speaker A: So, yeah, no, it wasn't easy at all. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy.

Speaker B: Where was that? In London.

Speaker A: In London? Yeah. We've always been kind of northwest London.

Speaker B: So had you effectively defected?

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: We had to kind of almost seek asylum, I guess, and say we can't go back and please let us stay. You know, I went to school and I learned English, you know, as a 10 year old, quite quickly. My parents obviously didn't learn as quickly as I had done on my brother, so I had to, um, I had to do a lot for them, you know, the documents, all the translating. And then my sister was born here and So I was 12, my brother was 10 and a half. So then I said I sort of had to come become his mom. So my mom was at home with the baby and I was taking my brother to tennis training, like going M from my school, picking up. Picking up him from his school and. Yeah, taking him to training. You know, my dad works so hard. He worked seven days a week from 7am till 9pm, you know, as much as he could to provide for us. So, like, quickly, you know, we moved to a bigger flat and a bigger flat and then we bought a house and my dad was incredible. She's no longer with us, sadly.

Speaker B: When we look at all the entrepreneurs that we interview on this show, I can tell you most of them come from your kind of background. They have not been born with silver spoons. And you know what, you should be moved because you should be proud of everything that you've achieved, but you've obviously gone on to achieve so much more than that in financial terms and recognition and, um, building a brand. So tell us, what was your first order and where did you get this product made?

Speaker A: So when we obviously were at the business plan, we needed to find a manufacturer, we weren't going to build a factory. And we approached some companies locally, first of all in the UK and they didn't want to work with us for one reason or another. So we started looking for companies in Europe to make the product for us and we just couldn't find anyone. The trouble is, as I mentioned to you, egg white did exist, but they didn't have the small packaging for retail. So we found a company that makes machinery that separates eggs and we said to them, could you please send us the list of who you've sold this machinery to? And they did. And from that list we found our manufacturer.

Speaker B: Brilliant.

Speaker C: See, that is a perfect example of never, ever giving up. It's always a numbers game.

Speaker A: Absolutely. Never give up. Never take no for an Answer, Just find a way.

Speaker B: The name two is fabulous.

Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker B: Who came up with that?

Speaker A: Well, you know, we love the name as well. Again, another funny story. So when we were looking to raise money, we thought we'd have the 75K. So we found this lovely agency, who actually, my business partner Anderson knew one of the guys. We were going to work with them, but in the end we couldn't raise the money, so we couldn't afford to work with them. But we went to the first meeting, um, in a pub somewhere in Soho. One of the guys who looked at us and he said, two chicks before we'd even sat down. And that was it. And that was it. And then later on we were gonna. When we found out we're gonna get the money, we said, look, let us just pay you. We paid him 3k so that we could just keep the name and use the name. And that was it.

Speaker C: Oh, my God.

Speaker B: Absolutely fantastic.

Speaker C: So your relationship with your co founder, who was doing what?

Speaker A: We had very clear roles, very clearly divided, um, skill sets. So Anna does sales and marketing, I did finance and logistics. That's how we started. And for the first four years, we did absolutely everything ourselves. Uh, we couldn't afford to pay anyone. And then we had to do things like.

Speaker B: Where was your first listing, Anna?

Speaker A: Selfridges.

Speaker B: Self Selfridges. Okay, so that's your first.

Speaker C: Your first listing was selfish?

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker C: Are you kidding me?

Speaker B: Yeah. But I know a lot about getting brands into, uh, retail.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: That's not going to pay the bills going Selfridges. So talk us through how that group. But it was a window. I. I imagine.

Speaker A: So we had, we had, luckily, a wonderful, um, Through Anna's, actually, again, through Anna's family friend, we were introduced to this great guy who kind of mentored us. He was like a food broker, essentially, and he got products into the supermarkets. So he said, go to Selfrid, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, they all offered us exclusive launches. But we chose Selfridges because we thought it was the biggest and the best food hall.

Speaker C: Who did you go and talk to? Who was the person you picked up?

Speaker A: I remember the name. Andrew Kavanagh.

Speaker C: Okay, Andrew. And he was head of what?

Speaker A: He was head of food or the food buyer. Yeah, food buyer. Or, uh, fresh food, maybe.

Speaker C: How did you do that presentation? What was the presentation? You put in one.

Speaker A: Well, it was a very basic PDF. God, I probably have a coffee copy of it somewhere. But no, you know, as I said, we were at the right time time at the right place. You know, we Showed the articles and the buyers. Luckily, the buyers really could see it. They could see that, um, it was

Speaker B: up and coming, you know, in. In those days, though I do slightly feel, in a way, the buyers expected slightly less from you. When I started my brand, you know, they weren't asking particularly, even then, how much money have you got to put behind it? You know, that I felt like there was more of a chance M then.

Speaker C: But remember, you branded yourself from day, so you were clever. I don't know how you knew to do that.

Speaker B: Talk us through those. The early days, uh, the packaging, then. What did it look like? How did you package?

Speaker A: Oh, good, yes, the name, you know, the name is great. Two chicks were very happy, but because we had no money, I had just Googled somebody. I literally, yeah, we did have Google back then. Found a guy, paid him a thousand pounds to design the packaging. It was fine, but we didn't know about test proofs, printer, um, proofs. So we, you know, when the packaging. We ordered a hundred thousand packs, which was the minimum, and they came and they were yellow and we wanted them to be green because we're egg white. So there was a bit of an issue there.

Speaker C: How did you deal with health and safety, luckily?

Speaker A: Well, the factory that we used, we had to use a factory that was good and vetted and they had all the certifications, so.

Speaker C: And where was that based?

Speaker A: Belgium. The guy who ran that company, um, he was also quite young. He was just a few years older than us and he really kind of saw that, like, the idea. And we're still working with the same factory and he recently sold his. He recently sold it, but we're still friends and hang out, so.

Speaker C: So they were brought over on a lorry.

Speaker A: They were brought over in a lorry.

Speaker C: And then were you sitting there with your cars ready to receive it?

Speaker A: Well, actually, you know, so we had to go. You go through a wholesaler because you don't deliver, you know, individually. So. But anyway. But what happened was they came in boxes of 18, but Selfridges wanted the boxes of six, as did that. All the other retailers, they still want boxes of six.

Speaker B: It's. It's not. Because that whatever box you think you've got, they want something. They want something different box about, um, unpacking and stacking shelves.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's called srp, the Shelf Ready packaging. So anyway, so Anna and I were to sit in the big fridge in our wholesalers and repack from boxes of 18 into boxes of 6.

Speaker C: You know, if people.

Speaker B: It's.

Speaker C: If people actually Knew the lens entrepreneurs go to in the early days. It's a debt terms. You said you borrowed money.

Speaker A: Well, no, no, we actually would give away equity. So we gave equity, we gave the 25 grand. So we went into Selfridges and you're talking about the newspaper article. So Anna. Anna did the, um, pr. I had to do all the invoicing and logistics and I did the pr. We had so much press coverage, we managed to get into kind of every magazine and newspaper that was very, very cool. We had, like, funny headlines, like the white stuff for the health conscious.

Speaker B: Brilliant. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Love that.

Speaker C: How many hours were you both working at this point?

Speaker A: A lot. A lot, a lot. And then it got to the stage where. Because, you know. So after suffrages, we went into Waitrose, we went into Sainsbury's and, you know, every time you deliver to a depot, you need an invoice because it's a fresh chilled product and used to go to different depots every single day. So I got to the stage where I couldn't cope with the thousands of invoices I had to do. So that's when we had to, you know, start bringing people in. We used to drive around the shops and we launched into Sainsbury's. We had no money, right, for marketing, so we used to stand outside Sainsbury's handing out leaflets and we used to go in and buy the products, come out, put it in the bin. And then I was pre. I got pregnant quite early on, um, and I was really scared to tell my business partner because we just launched a business and suddenly I'm pregnant. But any. Uh, I was standing outside Sainsbury's, like, heavily pregnant, handing out leaflets, and I said to Anna, they must think I have a really bad husband that I have.

Speaker C: Who was this man? So you'd already married?

Speaker A: Uh, yeah, I was engaged. I was engaged. Well, I met him as I was starting the business. I can't remember the exact timeline. 2007 would launch the business.

Speaker C: 2007, you're right. In the massive crash.

Speaker A: Yeah, right. Yes, it was that in 2005, we registered the company for a year and a half. We wrote the business plan, found a manufacturer, found some money, and, um, August 2007 we launched. And yet 2008 was the crash. But luckily we were so small they didn't really affect us.

Speaker B: What was your turnover?

Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, God. So we started, obviously, one stoppages for six weeks. Then we went into, I think we got 10 waitress stores and then we got 60 Sainsbury's um, and then camera. What came next? Probably Tesco. And we went into Dubai quite quickly, quite early on. Um, but the turnover the first year was like 40 grand. Second year, maybe like 200. But we grew, we grew, we grew steadily for the first seven years.

Speaker B: At what point, Allah, did you think to yourself, this is really taking off. Wow. And you start to slightly relax and think, this is going to work?

Speaker A: Um, because you know what, Richard, that's a really interesting question. I don't think you ever feel that because you always have goals, you always want the next retailer, you always want more sales, you want to get the new products and the competitor threat is always there. And we did have, we did have some hair, uh, hair raising moments, especially during lockdown with competitors just coming out and kind of would you say you've

Speaker C: relaxed now or you still have sense of survival? Survival. Do you feel you're surviving still?

Speaker A: Well, because we saw the majority stake last year, I feel like, you know, we've taken a little bit of money off the table, so I don't think I'm going to be in a cardboard box with my kids on the street.

Speaker B: I tell you what is interesting though, which is quite rare on this show, where most of our entrepreneurs that have come on have started multiple different businesses and most of them haven't worked, so they've lost their shirt on something.

Speaker A: Oh, that's interesting. Thank you. Yeah, I guess that is true.

Speaker C: Just on that topic, are you already thinking about, um, starting another business?

Speaker A: Well, I'm not thinking about starting another business, but a few years ago I set up future female entrepreneur to, you know, inspire and empower the next generation of female entrepreneurs. And that's really, really become my passion. And so, uh, you know, I go to wonderful places now like Davos and the Reykjavik Global Forum, all about this. And I just, if I do anything else in my life, it will be that, it will be more female empowerment, gender equality will work.

Speaker C: Why do you give a damn about that?

Speaker A: Uh, I just think the stats are just crazy. I mean, I've never felt any difficulty being a woman. I really haven't. Uh, maybe I have a lot of testosterone, I don't know.

Speaker C: But you don't, you don't come across

Speaker B: like that at all.

Speaker A: But, um, but the stats are just horrible.

Speaker B: You know, we've had, um, we've had some wonderful women entrepreneurs. Debbie Wasco, I don't know if you know, her book sold and exited three or four times. Uh, she just pioneers women and she said the same stats exactly like you for Women getting investment, um, getting in front of the right people. Uh, Lottie White, she went on Dragon's Den, and she was saying exactly that.

Speaker A: What I do know is that more girls go to uni than boys. More women enter the workforce than men. But at the first promotion, we are. We're starting to lose ground. So is it the old boys club? I don't know. Some of the factors had to do with us. Self confidence, not asking for enough. The other. The other funny thing about growing up in Russia is not that everyone worked. My mom worked, my grandmother worked. Because childcare was provided by the state. Here, women have to stay at home to take care of the children. They can't afford to work because a child gets too expensive. You know, we get to a very fun conference. It's the International Egg Commission, and they have a.

Speaker C: You're kidding. There's a conference called the International.

Speaker A: Yeah. Egg is a big industry worldwide, and we are one of the very few women in there. And sometimes, you know, you get to dinners on these coaches, and we sit there and we listen to these guys talking about strip clubs and things like that. And. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: I want to take you back to the business. Would you like to share with our viewers and listeners what your turnover was before you sold it?

Speaker A: Well, um.

Speaker B: Come on. It's public domain.

Speaker A: Well, we're just. We're just north of 10 million. We're in about 5,000 outlets, I would say, worldwide.

Speaker B: Oh, wow.

Speaker A: Uh, but, you know, obviously, primarily the UK in the uae, in the Netherlands, we have a bit of.

Speaker B: So you're turning over north of 10 million?

Speaker A: Turning over north of 10 million, yeah.

Speaker B: Tell me, is there a lot of profit in eggs?

Speaker A: Not as much as they used to be.

Speaker B: Do they buy pallet? Loads of eggs and you have to buy the whole egg? What happens to the yolk once it's separated?

Speaker A: You know, we get asked this question several times a day. What happens to the yolk? And so obviously, the yolk is not wasted. It's. It goes to other companies. Mayonnaise cakes. Um, but I have to say, even the shell is not wasted. So the shell is crushed up and put back into the chicken feed, so.

Speaker B: Oh, really? You don't have to buy the whole egg and. Yeah, yeah, sell the yolk.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker A: Yeah. And you know what? The funny thing with that. So when we first launched, egg white was kind of the byproduct, and nobody really wanted the white. Uh, it was kind of cheap. But then McDonald's launched the egg white McMuffin yes. And so then, so then it flips. The egg white became more valuable than the egg yolk and now I think it's kind of stable. I Christ.

Speaker C: Just out of interest, how has your marriage survived building a company?

Speaker A: Oh no, no. I've had two marriages that have failed miserably very quickly.

Speaker C: Would you have forgone your company to keep your relationships?

Speaker A: No, absolutely not. No, no, no. I mean my relationship, they're probably, they weren't right. They were both very short lived. But I'm very grateful to my ex husbands for my children.

Speaker C: There you go. It's the only attitude to have.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no, no, I love, yeah. My children are obviously the best but I have a 20 year marriage with my business partner.

Speaker B: Yes, Ross, business partners. But we were very, very different work wise. Do you think that's essential?

Speaker A: 100%. You know, um, because at the beginning it was so hard starting out and you know you almost want to give up because you're just getting nowhere. But luckily we, we picked each other up on you know because we had off days on different days. Of course as the business grows and you start to employ people you kind of, you both and you know working more on strategy and you know there may be certain disagreements on silly things like, like a font or a color.

Speaker B: How do you sort that out?

Speaker A: We have a voting system. We have to ask others and just go with that.

Speaker C: I'm just going to scaling. How did you maintain quality control when you're actually sitting in the uk? Are you flying out to different factories, different manufacturers and talking to them on a monthly basis? How are you dealing with that?

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean you know we used to go a lot to uh, factories. I actually remember our first visit to this Belgian egg factory. We'd like turned up in this really high heels and we had put this blue plastic on our shoes and oh my God, the smell of an egg factory. Jesus Christ is bad. It's very bad. I mean I don't know why we didn't go into fashion but hey. And then uh, and then obviously you see the chickens and the farms and

Speaker B: yeah, it's very galvanizing and it's what I call in business when you sell something and you've achieved something, your, your business feathers are up. Do you feel invincible moving forward?

Speaker A: I've never heard that phrase. I love that business feathers. That really goes with two chicks as well. Yes, absol. Um, no, I don't think you're invincible because as you mentioned I've heard a lot of very successful people sell for a Lot of money and then invest and invest horribly. So I think it's definitely not guaranteed, but you certainly build up connections and you can, you know, I've. I have got ideas that I'm thinking about, as I mentioned, on the gender equality side of things, but I'm talking to a lot of people before I make any decision.

Speaker B: Do you feel you've got another brand in you?

Speaker A: I think think so, yeah.

Speaker B: You got the energy, I've got the energy. Do you not think that makes you slightly more risk averse because you're so proud and so protective of what you've managed to build up, you've secured your children's future?

Speaker A: No, no, I'm not risk averse. I like to take risks, yo.

Speaker B: You do?

Speaker A: Yeah, I do like to take risks, but of course they have to be calculated risks. And I think, again, that's where the partnership has worked well in terms of, you know, I mean, of course, sometimes we should have pushed more, sometimes we could have push less. You know, sometimes we spend too long trying to get a product off the ground that wasn't going to work. Um, also, I think, you know, to your point about do I have energy that things that, you know, there was a time when I was, you know, obviously young and going to places like China wide and having kids, maybe I didn't work as hard as I could have done, but now I feel, you know, can really work hard.

Speaker C: And how have you brought your children up?

Speaker A: I love training myself. You know, my dad was, as I mentioned, was a sportsman. So for me, sport is number one. But I'm busy. I'm a busy single mom, so my kids sometimes are a little bit neglected, affected when it comes to things like homework. You know, I have to sit on my laptop. They have to do their own thing.

Speaker C: Are you teaching them how to value money, how to save money? What is your relationship like with money now?

Speaker A: Yeah, no, I think, you know, God. Growing up in communist Russia, I remember having a catalog. I don't know where this catalog came from, but I remember saying to m my dad, is there a country where you can buy these things? You know, but now, but now it's Amazon, you know, in Amazon, and it will be here today. And my daughter's waiting for her Amazon package to arrive. It's just. It's a completely different way of life, you know, they can never appreciate it. And I feel like, yeah, when my son, he's 18, he is a lovely, lovely boy and he works very hard, he trains very hard, but, yeah, they're a little Bit spoiled. You know, we travel a lot, we spend, you know, months away at a time.

Speaker B: How much of your company have you given away? Sold. Sold in percentage terms, like 74. 74. Did you sell it because you just was at a time you wanted to monetize, to give you some self. Some, uh, financial security? Or did the company that has bought it is. Do they have the ability to take it places that you couldn't?

Speaker A: Um, I think it's definitely good to have the backing and the security of a big company. And of course, it does give us opportunities to do more, especially because the company is a manufacturer. But at the moment, we're just. We're carrying on as is. So it's actually been very nice that, you know, they let us do what we're doing. They. They trust us, they believe in us.

Speaker B: That's fantastic.

Speaker A: They like what we're doing.

Speaker C: So they bought you. So 74 of the company has been bought?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Who bought it?

Speaker A: It's one of our manufacturers, an Italian company. But, yeah, they're huge. They're huge. They're turning over and they bought it.

Speaker B: I would imagine they're thinking they can do more with it, right?

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B: Did you go into any other products with these egg whites?

Speaker A: Yes, we have. Yeah. So we have. Over the years, we launched many different products. Um, you know, we launched a liquid whole egg in the carton. We launched different. So what we wanted to do initially was flavored mixes. And that's what the. At the time, Egg Beat is the biggest company in the States that had flavored mixes. Those, they didn't work so well. Um, we couldn't put pieces in like they do in the States. Also, we had problems with cartons exploding on shelf because, um, we hadn't tested it, uh, in badly performing fridges. And then we. We had this really cool product. I think, again, we were a bit ahead of our time with this healthy crisps made with egg white. We call them Chirps. But we just. Now, this year, we launched so many new products. We launched Egg Bites, we launched egg white drinks just on Monday. We've launched a pancake mix, which we have done over the years.

Speaker C: Egg white drinks.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: What is that?

Speaker A: Ah, they are incredible. So they are, um. It's a small bottle, 250mils. It's 20 grams of protein and it's only around 100 calories. It's 76 egg white. We have a chocolate chip cookie flavor and we have a blueberry flavor. That sounds lovely. Yeah.

Speaker B: I'd like you to just run away with this question, you could be talking to female entrepreneurs and be your pioneering Alice itself. That's been there, done it, got the T shirt. Give our audience and listeners some advice on being an entrepreneur. Uh, what. What are your takeaways?

Speaker A: Well, take being an entrepreneur. You certainly can never take no for an answer. Uh, you know, it's your idea, and there's no one to say that your idea is right or wrong. If you believe in it, you. You have to go and make it happen.

Speaker C: Oh, God, I love entrepreneurs. I'm sorry.

Speaker B: Absolutely love me. Okay, so you find yourself on death row.

Speaker A: Oh, wow.

Speaker B: Okay, what is your last meal? And don't say egg whites. An egg white pancake.

Speaker A: Oh, God. I'd have, um, I have chateaubriand and potato dauphinois.

Speaker B: Oh, lovely. Oh, that is a really cool.

Speaker C: I love.

Speaker B: Do you know, I haven't had dopinoir for ages. I used to know how to make dofumoir. Actually, I've forgotten how to make them. Do you know, we have absolutely loved having you on this show. And I can tell you something, because you've been so candid. Being an entrepreneur is an emotional journey. Um, and you've been a wonderful guest. We have absolutely loved having you on. Thanks for coming on Entrepreneurs Worldwide.

Speaker A: Thank you for having me, love.

Speaker B: Can you do us a favor? Can you hit that follow and subscribe button? You can find us any where you get your podcasts on entrepreneurs Worldwide. And there'll be a new episode every Wednesday at 5:00am.