Dounne Alexander – Business Leader

Dounne Alexander is the founder of “Grammas” herbal foods and has won such national awards as ‘Black Businesswoman of the Millennium’ and inclusion in the list of 100 Great Black Britons.

She was born in Trinidad, and came to Britain with her parents in 1962. She worked for 22 years as a Chemical/Bacteriological technician and then as a housing officer. She became a single parent in 1986, being aware that everyone was getting into health foods, she went to her kitchen and cooked up a batch of concentrated hot pepper herbal sauce using a recipe created by her herbalist/spiritualist grandmother, who swore it could improve your health.
She gave it to some friends to try, and the rest they say is history.

Although she had no formal business training or experience, she established her herbal food manufacturing business ‘GRAMMAS’, (sic) named in memory of her grandmother. Within three months she had convinced Harrods, Selfridges and Fortnum and Mason to sell her sauces. She also got her products onto the shelves of the 7 top supermarket chains – among them Safeway, Tesco and Waitrose.  Something many Entrepreneurs would die for.However, the end of the decade,  lack of support from banks and financial institutions caused her to withdraw from major manufacturing

Today, Dounne includes herbal seasonings and a selection of herbal teas and drinks in her range, all available by mail order.

Related Links

• Caribbean Food Emporium
• Grammas