An young entrepreneur has described her journey from producing candles on her parents’ hob to running a business that aims to have a turnover of £10 million by 2022.

Hannah Chapman founded Ava May Aromas early in 2018 after quitting her job at a marketing agency, which she wasn’t enjoying. While scrolling through Instagram, she came across the idea that would later become her business.

“I liked candles,” the 25-year-old told the Gazette, “and I saw a few Australian accounts pop up in my feed. I’d always liked pretty, smelly things and saw there was a gap in the UK for it. My dad was always self-employed, so I thought I’d have a crack at it.”

Though her dad had been an inspiration for starting her own business, he wasn’t initially keen. “I remember my dad’s face when I told him,” she said. “He didn’t get it. My idea was so different to what his vision of a candle was.”

Having ordered a starter kit online, Hannah started from scratch, learning by trial and error how to produce her candles, as well as help from online videos, and courses with teachers. She also made her own website, using the skills from her former marketing job.

Now she was set up, she began the process of building a following on Instagram. Though she now appears in her Instagram posts, this wasn’t always the case.

“I didn’t want to be the face of the brand,” she said, and so chose Ava May Aromas as the name of her company as an attempt to deflect publicity from her.

“But showing my face got twice the response than when I did it anonymously, so I thought, I’m going to have to do it. I had to overcome that psychological block and say I was just talking to the phone, rather than an audience.”

Hannah also tried engaging with other influencers to try and boost her following, by providing free samples to try.

“Influencer gifting can be a great way to build an account,” she said, “but most don’t read your messages or reject you outright.”

After a period of constant rejection, Hannah decided to instead approach smaller accounts to try and spread her name. One account that helped her in the early days was that of Sophie Hinchliffe, or Mrs Hinch, who has since gone on to become one of the platform’s superstars.

“I built up a friendship with her, and a good feeling,” she said. She picked just the right time. Shortly after Sophie became a rep for Ava May, “her account took off.”

“Every time we got storied we got a flood of followers,” Hannah said. “I had to pull all-nighters to keep up at home on my parents’ hob.”

Soon, her parents' Fleet house was overflowing with boxes of materials for her burgeoning business, so much so she says they were living on takeaways because she was constantly using the kitchen. Her parents finally drew a line, and they found a unit at the Commercial Centre near Andover, where the company is still based.

“Everything is made on site here, and I like that,” Hannah says. “I can control it when everything is here, and show people behind the scenes on Instagram, which some corporate accounts never do.”

As the business has kept growing, it has had to evolve to keep up. One big change has been the growth of wax melts, which are small pieces of wax that are melted in burners to slowly release their fragrance, and the move away from candles. “The shift came from Instagram,” she said. “It’s what people want, and they’re more affordable as opposed to candles. They’ve exploded in popularity, and are now what we’re mostly known for.”

Another change has been the impact of Covid-19. Hannah says she feels “grateful” that she was able to weather the storm. “We’ve been very lucky that e-commerce and social media have done very well,” she said. “When people are bored, they go on their phone and buy things, which sustained all the jobs here.”

There may be more jobs on the horizon, with the growth of Ava May Aromas meaning it now occupies a variety of units split up around the Commercial Centre. “I’d like to move into our own premises next year,” said Hannah, “as it’s not ideal from a workflow perspective.

“I’m open to seeing what the future holds, but I’ve got a warehouse on my Christmas list.”