Gina Payet runs Chetty Curry Powder with her mother, Marie Chetty. At just 17 years old, Gina is one of the directors of the company that’s carrying on her grand-father’s legacy.
By Jade Gilbert-Finnigan
Gina Payet, along with her mother Marie Chetty, is sharing the taste of Seychelles with their company Chetty Curry Powder. Chetty Curry Powder started from a special family recipe and has now blossomed into a growing business based in Scotland.
Gina spoke to Cosmocreole about her life, journey and future…
Gina is currently attending high school in the North-East of Scotland where she grew up with her two sisters and brother. At the moment, she’s studying Business, Accounting and Leadership, as she is going to do Business Management at university next year. She finds it important to progress in those skills for as long as possible. Her aim is to master her sales and marketing skills because she would like to start her own business in the future. Chetty Curry Powder is a part of her daily life and she balances her commitment to the company alongside school, violin, piano and taekwondo.
Gina’s mum is the other director of Chetty Curry Powder. Marie moved to England in 1998 to study whilst Gina’s dad took a job in Scotland. She eventually joined him there when she was expecting Gina’s older sister. All four of the children were born in Scotland but they go back to Seychelles for holidays and see family.
Bringing the family curry powder recipe to Scotland
“When my mum moved to the UK, she would always have to wait until she went back to Seychelles to get curry powder from her dad. This became a bit of a hassle for her, as she did love a frequent curry. So, she was given the recipe for her to make the curry powder herself. When she started making it in England, she gave some to her friends to try- and they loved it too!“
Everyone who tried the curry powder before the concept for Chetty Curry Powder was thought up, remarked that most of the curry powder in the UK just could not match the great flavour and natural ingredients of their family recipe. Marie saw a gap in the market for good quality curry powder and this sparked the mother and daughter pair to introduce their unique curry powder to the rest of the UK.
Our journey to establishing our business
“The initial idea had been around ever since mum moved to England. She had the recipe and wanted to introduce it to the United Kingdom, but she didn’t know exactly how to do it.
“Luckily for her, I started being interested in business and aiming my subjects at school towards the business-related subjects. So as soon as the chance was there, I was ready to get in there and help my mum with the idea she had had for so long.
“We started our little brand with nothing but our curry powder recipe at the end of March this year, as soon as Scotland went into lockdown. Lockdown gave us plenty of time to focus on setting up Chetty Curry Powder, as I wasn’t going to school and my mum couldn’t go to work, which meant we had plenty of time to get our heads down and turn mum’s idea into a reality.
“With very little business knowledge between the two of us, it was definitely a challenge, but very within reach, to get things off the ground. So, we attended a few business courses, and I gathered some knowledge from the internet on various business topics such as how to advertise our product, to start putting things together in May.
“Starting in May 2020, I learnt how to use a website builder and built our website which you can see today, and I got our social media networks set up. Together we developed packaging, contacted potential stockists, and did some basic marketing before we had our small official launch on July 2nd, 2020.“
“At Chetty Curry Powder, my mum deals with the production of the curry powder, communicates with our stockists face-to-face and does the deliveries to stockists and customers. I reply to and send all emails, update our Instagram and Facebook pages and reply to all comments and messages that we get through those pages too. My mum is often busy with her little cleaning company, so I spend my time learning how to promote our products so we can get the word of Chetty Curry Powder further out there!“
The future of Chetty Curry Powder
Gina and her mum are aiming to bring their recipe back to their homeland, Seychelles, for Seychellois to enjoy too. As well as Seychelles, they aim to introduce their curry powder to different countries across the globe including France, Italy, USA and many others. They are aiming to release more products in the future that relate to their curry powder recipe, such as sauces and pastes, and products to highlight their Seychelles heritage.
“Our main goal at Chetty Curry Powder is to provide a range of unique Seychelles products worldwide to inform everyone of the beauty of our country. In the future we look forward to the making this into a reality.”
Visit Chetty Curry Powder
You can follow Chetty Curry Powder on Instagram
