WITH many firms eyeing overseas markets amid concern about the outlook for the UK economy , we hear from an entrepreneur running a four year old business which has already developed a customer base that covers 60 countries.

Name:

Kristian Tapaninaho.

Age:

36.

What is your business called?

Uuni.

Where is it based?

Broxburn.

What does it produce?

Uuni is the company behind the world’s first portable wood-fired oven.

To whom does it sell?

We sell to outdoor cooking enthusiasts and ship products to over 60 countries, including the US and Australia.

What is its turnover?

£2.9million.

How many employees?

11.

When was it formed?

We officially formed in 2013 and began selling to consumers in the sum-mer of that year.

Why did you take the plunge?

It was the end of 2011, and I was living in London with my wife Darina. We had just had our first child and I got really into making pizzas. I found that they were good but not great. I knew it was because domestic ovens couldn’t get hot enough and the pizzas lacked that wood-fired taste. I looked at buying a wood-fired oven but our garden was tiny, and I couldn’t find anything I thought was suitably small and affordable. So I decided to mock up some drawings, then I worked with a local metal welder to create a prototype. After testing we were really excited it was then we launched Uuni on Kickstarter and the rest is history!

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

Working with Darina, for our creative ed-ucation company, Suklaa. The business focuses on empowering tteachers and young people to enable them to build the future of learning. Darina still runs Suklaa with her business partner Claudia. At Suklaa we often talk about creativity being problem solving which is nice because Uuni came into life as a solution to a problem!

Before starting Suklaa, Darina and I both studied photography and we began working in schools on projects focused on developing creativity and innovation in young people. I moved to the UK in 2002 to study Photography. It was there that I met Darina.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

We raised our very first capital on the crowdfunding plat-form, Kickstarter back at the end of 2012. We reached our fundraising goal of £7,500 within two weeks and had raised more than 220 per cent of it by the end of the campaign. In the early stages of the business we also took a small amount of investment from two family and friends investors.

What was your biggest break?

Our biggest break really came when we launched our very first product. I had prototypes and they worked - I remember being so excited! But it wasn’t until we started to receive support that I truly knew it was going to happen and people were as excited about the products as I was. The fact that we had supporters from all over the world really helped us too - we had global customers from the outset. Because of the nature of crowdfunding plat-forms, we were communicating with supporters in a very open way- an ethos that infiltrated the brand and one we still stand by today.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

Waking up every morning and having a new challenge to tackle, knowing that we’re building something I feel is great. Not just in our products but also building a company culture to be proud of.

Members of the Uuni community are all over the world. They share photos recipes, ideas, help each other. It’s a real privilege to see the community grow with very little input from us.

What do you least enjoy?

Admin! Luckily we’re now hiring people who love it!

What are your ambitions for the firm?

To continue growth but ensure our company culture re-mains at the forefront of all we do.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do that would help?

Provide us with some clarity regarding what will happen once the UK leaves the EU. I’m Finnish and have lived in the UK for almost 15 years, establishing family and a business. It’s the place I call home.

What was the most valuable lesson that you learned?

To only hire A-players who are super pas-sionate about the work they want to do. It’s impossible to have success without that.

How do you relax?

I do a fair bit of running and prioritise that quite highly on my daily schedule. I’m still “working” in a sense when I run as I use the time to think about the business, our products and innovation.