When Vicky Henley started her family she decided it was time for her career path to take a new turn. Having spent 15 years within asset management, Vicky was acutely aware she'd need to change jobs if she was to see her children as much as she wanted, her position being inflexible and involving long hours. Vicky's time spent in the financial sector, and her degree in economics, was far from wasted however.

Looking at new career opportunities, Vicky began searching in those areas where her passions lay. So, with a love of food and fitness, she listened with great excitement when a friend of hers, who lives in the Philippines, approached her with a business idea.

Mike Pilgrim had set up a venture that was trading in coconut husks (used to extract coconut fibre for use in mattresses, car seats, door mats and for anti-soil erosion and horticultural applications), but felt there was a big opportunity in working with a UK partner to utilise other parts of the coconut within the health and wellness sector, becoming mainstream in the UK.

Vicky saw an opportunity for an exciting new start-up, which would enable her to use her business knowledge within a sector that she was passionate about and allow her flexible hours to work around her family...and so the Coconut Company was born in January 2015 after a year of research and planning.  Vicky then set about  creating a range of branded products to appeal to a worldwide healthy shopper, all stemming from the humble coconut.

Two years on and the Coconut Company, based in East Dulwich, is booming and offers products in the UK and internationally, from better known favourites like virgin coconut oil, coconut milk powder, flour and sugar, to more unique offerings such as coconut sap vinegar, amino sauces and nectar.

The Coconut Company wants to ensure its legacy is about more than just business however and Vicky recognises the importance of forging community links with the Philippines. As part of its corporate social responsibility activity, The Coconut Company teamed up with residents of East Dulwich to collect and send out a shipment of clothes and toys to a local village in the Philippines where villagers lost everything due to a typhoon, a common occurrence in the country.

Vicky explains how she is now hoping her success will inspire others to pursue their business dreams and not be afraid to take their career paths on a new route.

"People fall into the trap of thinking that because they've worked so hard to get where they are in one career the safe option is to stay where they are. The skill set you've built up and hard work you've put in in one career doesn't suddenly disappear when you change jobs though. You're rarely starting from scratch and everything I learnt in my previous career has meant that I've been able to move the Coconut Company along much faster than I otherwise would."

Click here to find out more about the Coconut Company