‘I’ve been able to grow my business organically because I was retired’

Shashi Aggarwal, 70, lives in Walsall with her husband. She has three children, aged, 46, 40 and 38.

I‘Now I’m working 16-hour days and I’m honestly loving it’

was always a business owner; I ran a home and garden gift shop for 38 years, where I learnt all the tricks of the trade. Aged 56, I retired and went and travelled the world. And then I got bored with doing that. I did some grandparenting, but watching television all day was not my idea of retirement. I knew I needed something bigger to keep myself occupied.

Then, on Christmas Day 2012, the idea for selling my freshly ground spice mixes online came from Sanjay, my son. On Boxing Day, we got our first order and Spice Kitchen was born. It’s been almost 10 years now. We’re profitable and employ 16 members of staff.

Age was definitely a benefit because I’ve got business experience and I’ve nothing to lose. Because it was a retirement project, money wasn’t the driving factor. It’s meant we could always put the product and the customer first and grow slowly and organically. If we’d had to scale up quickly to pay the mortgage then I don’t think we’d have the loyal customer base we now enjoy.

I’m still involved in Spice Kitchen, but I’m doing other projects as well; I’ve started a sewing co-operative called Sewing by Shashi. Last year, I took on a team of ladies to sew scrubs for doctors, cutting and sewing day and night. We then started doing masks, and now we’re doing baby clothes, tea towels, gift bags, all kinds of things, for companies on Not on the High Street.

I’m so busy with that now I’m working 16-hour days and I’m honestly loving it. It means a lot to me to create opportunities for other women. I know I can take time out and not take on orders when I need a break; I took two months out over the summer. I’ve seen my other family members retire with nothing to do, and I don’t like it. My plan is to keep busy until I can’t do any more.