In our latest ‘What’s Cooking’, we hear from Minerva Jimenez , the woman behind the unique and naturally delicious sweet spread brand, MINJUMS. MINJUMS is currently sold at farmers markets and Minerva says it makes her happy when she sees people smile when they try it. Recently pitching to a foodtech incubator, Minerva is driven to build her business quickly and recently graduated from Chelsea’s Foodpreneurs Formula™ group coaching program, which she said, “helped me become crystal clear on my vision, write a plan and create a success structure for my business. It has helped me be much more deliberate on where I am going with my business.” We’re excited to see where Minerva takes her business next. For now, here’s her start-up story.
Your business name: MINJUMS
How would you describe the business you are in?
MINJUMS is a small business that launched in June 2019 and it has found to have an impact on humans life by giving them options of healthy and sustainable foods that can be shared with the people they love.
What do you love about your work?
I love to look at peoples’ smiles when the try the product.
What part of your job would you gladly give away?
Production. I love the creation part, but when something that is just repeatable, is is not exciting for me.
If you were starting out in business again today, what piece of advice would you give your younger you?
Have a plan, make goals, have a vision and write them down, print them and have them in a visible place, before you go to sell your product.
Women start businesses 41% of the time to solve a problem. Sometimes this means we have a great vision but don’t have enough resources to sustain our business for the long term. Tell us what resources you started your business with eg. money saved, business premises, business partner, and how long before you started paying yourself?
I started my business with my savings and I am not paying myself yet.
As you know we are passionate about women #backingthemselves. So tell us about a time in the last twelve months that you’re really proud of.
The day I launched my product.
As we are always growing and learning, what is the one thing you would like to take time to learn more about?
Business Strategy. I would like to have more the business side, I am so technical and I think it is missing a lot the business side to growth at the speed I want and that’s what get inside Females in Food Foodpreneurs Formula program.
The world is changing so fast and technology enables us to do so much more. We’re interested in which app you could not live without and why?
Facebook, I get into the communities and groups that are related to my business and they are so helpful. Also I follow the competitors and look what are they doing.
Why did you decide to become a member of Females in Food®
I just got very excited when I read the description and what resources where available and it was just exactly what I was looking for.
We love to celebrate the successes. Can you give us an example of how joining the Foodpreneurs Formula has positively impacted your business?
One that I have a lot in my mind is when I watch the Food Labelling Masterclass it helped me a lot to understand very easily what were the requirements for my label, I watched , I took notes and I worked on my label from there.
Thank you Minerva.
Want to read more about another successful member? Check out our ‘What’s Cooking’ interview with Kristin Lemura, from Noble Bootleggers Distilling Co.