Sometimes life provides one of those life-affirming stories which reads more like a fairytale with a happy ending than anything we tend to see in today’s news headlines. This story features a retired primary school teacher who has set up a company especially to support the world’s much trammelled vanilla industry. In her travels, this remarkable and determined woman comes across a hard-working girl called Irine Hendry, somewhere deep in rural Africa - and the young lady’s dream is to help her parents and other subsistence farmers by becoming an accountant.

But despite having earned herself a degree, Irine is living a subsistence lifestyle far from any centre of learning, and has no chance of training for the extensive and expensive examinations which must be passed if she wants to become a certified public accountant.

The moment she hears this story, Janet Sawyer - founder of the Devon-based company LittlePod, which specialises in developing and selling ethically sourced vanilla products - decides to step in.

“It was an easy thing for me to do, and I did it in a heartbeat - and I was so glad to be the owner of LittlePod and was able to immediately respond with the words… ‘Well, Irine, we will support you!’” remembers Janet.

She adds: “This was when I first met Irine - we were visiting her father’s farm in Tanzania, located in the middle of the savannah miles away from anywhere. Irine was given the job of taking photos of our visit with her tiny camera.  She looked so happy. I asked why she was so happy, and she replied that she’d just heard she’d passed her accountancy degree. 

“I was gobsmacked! I looked around and, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing - no building or conurbation of any kind.  I called Olly (LittlePod’s Commercial Manager) over as he had passed his AAT exams and had received the Apprentice of the Year award. So he knew what was involved. He was as dumbstruck as me! Irine is the same age as Olly.  He could only feel inspired by her. 

“She told us that she’d had to walk one-and-a-half hours to college each day. Then I asked what was next for her - and she said she’d love to become a certified public accountant as there was a great need for them in Tanzania and she would certainly be able to get a job.

“But, when I asked when she’d be starting her CPA course, she replied that her father would have to work for 10 years to save enough for her to qualify as a public accountant - and that was if she passed all the exams first time! And that could be a big problem because they are tough, as accountants here in the UK will testify.”

That was when Janet made the instant decision that LittlePod would sponsor Irine to embark upon the extensive period of training and exam-taking.

“She jumped in the air and fetched her parents who were in a state of disbelief as she said to them: ‘You see, it is because I have been a good girl!’”

Like any good fairytale, this one had its moments of jeopardy, and Irene’s progression was far from plain-sailing.

“It was a long three year journey,” says Janet. “ She failed four of the first year exams and had to retake them.  I told her that it takes courage to keep going and not give up - and she was so resilient.  She passed them the second time round.  Then, sadly, in the second year she failed two.  They were very hard exams, especially if you are not actually working in the field.  They were in corporate finance and corporate reporting - and our accountant, Debbie, wrote to her to say that everyone fails these first time, so not to give up.  So Irine did her retakes and we waited with bated breath to hear the outcome - which we received this week…

“She passed!” declares Janet with a huge smile, obviously filled with both pride and delight.

And the LittlePod founder, who lives and operates her business just outside Exeter, is especially happy because her trip to Tanzania three years ago almost didn’t happen. Apart from anything else, Janet was in two minds about the air-miles involved - but she did want to support a friend who had set up a major project in Africa helping subsistence farmers. 

“I met Irine when Olly and I attended a vanilla symposium in Tanzania. It was being hosted by a friend called Juan, who is a remarkable man himself.  He went to Tanzania to help his then girlfriend (now wife) who is a specialist HIV doctor from Texas. Before that Juan used to make video games.  He spent his life indoors.  However, when he went to Tanzania where 60% of the country’s children were AIDS orphans, he wanted to help put some infrastructure into the community. As a way of achieving that, he set up a natural extracts company. 

“His ethos and ours at LittlePod are exactly the same.  He encouraged the farmers to grow vanilla among their crops for various reasons - such as helping the soil and offering a high value commodity to supplement the diversity of their land.  He now has 5,000 vanilla farmers producing vanilla among their crops. There are many challenges, not least the fact that they cannot access power regularly. Last year locusts wiped out crops as far as Kenya and parts of Tanzania, but fortunately missed Irine’s farm.

“Tanzania is one of the bread baskets of the world, rather like the South West here in Britain,” Janet explains. “Irine’s family farm grows bananas, pomegranates, avocados, rice, and a whole host of other things - but they do not get to eat these crops as they are the only means of scratching a living.”

So impressed was Janet by Irine’s determined character and intellectual abilities, she made her LittlePod’s ‘ambassador’ in Africa. “This remarkable vanilla farmer's daughter has enjoyed being our 'Voice of Africa’ and she writes regular reports for our newsletters. Which is why we invited Irine to come here to do an internship, but alas that did not happen in the end. The British government says it wants good relations with Tanzania, but when we tried to get Irine over here for a LittlePod internship, the Foreign Office turned her down."

However, the story does have a happy ending now that Irine has become a certified public accountant.

“Thank you very much LittlePod and the whole team for your support,” wrote an over-the-moon Irine recently. “You helped me achieve my dream career by giving me the sponsorship to follow my studies, Finally I have passed all my exams and have become a Certified Public Accountant. As a LittlePod voice of Africa, I am proud to be a part of the team. Thank you once again.”

“It is a joyful story,” says Janet. “I identified Irine as a diligent worker - she was clearly intelligent and determined to succeed, even if the odds were set against her.  My years as a primary school teacher taught me to recognise talent and tenacity.  From the outset I knew she would succeed, whatever it took. 

“I am so happy for her. I felt, having seen her there in that field, dressed in her wonderful colours - I could see the future of Africa…”

ENDS 

For further information, high resolution images or additional expert comment, please contact RAW Food & Drink PR: Harry Hook - harry@rawfoodanddrinkpr.co.uk /  07540399025

Hi-res images are available here.

About LittlePod:

LittlePod Natural Vanilla Paste 100ml is vegan, kosher and gluten free. It is available to buy direct from their website, littlepod.co.uk, RRP £15. wholefoods. Other products in the range include Organic Madagascan Bourbon Vanilla Pods and Pure Vanilla Extract. 

LittlePod is owned and operated by Janet Sawyer BEM MBE, who set up the company to promote the use of real vanilla, to help the communities which rely on its cultivation, and conserve the fragile ecosystems in which pure vanilla is grown.

Since LittlePod’s launch in Janet’s kitchen in May 2010, the company has grown and expanded their range to include coffee and chocolate extract. LittlePod’s products have won numerous awards and are used by top chefs around the world. LittlePod was awarded the Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development in 2018.