… We are inspired to create these opportunities for other women’

“The 2024 graduates have shown dedication, ambition, and a deep passion for their craft. It’s an honour to help them take the next big step. Congratulations to all the graduates — we can’t wait to see what you achieve next.”

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At the graduation, the incubatees introduced their progress to an audience filled with family and friends, as well as executives and mentees from the V&A Waterfront and partners Property Point.

Noelfa Miller, from Rylands, was in tears. She said the programme was where dreams came true.

Ms Miller started her farm-style jam business in 2016, with fruits hand-picked from a Wolsely farm. She said one of the biggest things she learnt was the importance of food contamination, and the mentorship has helped her business thrive. She said she was happy that the selection panel on the programme saw something in her jams and preserves.

Robyn Brock, from Westridge in Mitchell’s Plain, was just two years old when her mother, Jacqueline Julie, started making oat crunchies to support her family because she had no job. She made her first crunchie 32 years ago and opened Xcelent Crunchies years later.

She and her younger daughter, Biythany, decided to join the incubator programme, and Ms Brock joined them as it was a family business and she felt like “the missing piece”.