How satisfying would it be to make a positive difference to people’s health and build a successful business? That’s the position Katherine Swift found herself in, when her mum was diagnosed with breast cancer and she felt an urge to help.

Katherine’s quest led her to support ground-breaking research that highlighted the benefits of antioxidants in our diets. Green tea is renowned for its healing properties due to its abundance of antioxidants and organic matcha green tea was the perfect fit.

And so OMGTea was born. A specialist matcha company with a very big heart, a percentage of OMGTea’s profits have been pledged to The Healthy Life Foundation, a charity founded by Katherine that funds research into age-related diseases.

I found my conversation with Katherine fascinating and uplifting, hearing how she built her business across continents, driven by her passion to improve health.

Overview

In our conversation, Katherine:

• Explains what matcha is all about; its history, its health benefits and the production process.
• Talks through her brand name and the Japanese origin of the word ‘matcha’.
• Details OMGTea’s business to business and business to consumer routes to market.
• Elaborates on the product range of teas and accessories.
• Discusses the personnel involved in running the business, and resources they outsource.
• Focuses on the impact of exchange rates between the Yen and the Pound, import duties and Brexit.
• Expands on OMGTea’s origin story.
• Stresses that doing something she believes in means more than financial gain.
• Explores the process of acquiring funds in the early days, and how she handled one product’s failure.
• Outlines her goals for OMGTea over the next three to five years.
• Compares her brand to key competitors, and her experience on Dragon’s Den.
• Shares key learnings from her time in business.