Double act, Jamal Ramsay and Jamal Ayton-Brown, took out two loans of £24,988 each in June 2020 to launch BOXD Health, a business selling sustainable protein and wellness shakes specifically designed for women.
The pair are based in Lewisham, London, and their business is purely digital.
After a ten year career in recruitment, Jamal A-B found himself unemployed in February 2020. The pandemic gave him the chance to step back and think about what really motivated him – entrepreneurialism. Meanwhile, his business partner, Jamal Ramsay had a background in sports science and nutrition, and had noticed that women were often struggling to get enough nutrients in their diets, especially protein.
Together, the pair decided to launch a health shake business that catered to women in a market saturated with male-oriented products. The product ideas arose from hundreds of hours of market research, which involved hearing from a large variety of women about what they wanted from a health drink.
Although gyms and yoga studios have been closed, the pandemic has not held them back – BOXD has been successfully trading for five months now.