Sweet deal at Harrods for former Wolverhampton pupil
A former Wolverhampton schoolboy turned entrepreneur has signed a deal with Harrods for his range of vegetarian sweets and is now taking the brand into Europe.
Imran Merza, a former City trader with Merrill Lynch and Knight Capital Markets, originally from Whitmore Reans, is co-founder of Jealous Sweets along with Taz Basunia, a former PWC chartered accountant from London.
The pair first hit upon the idea after Mr Merza, aged 34, started looking for vegetarian sweets for a girlfriend who didn't eat traditional sweets as they contained gelatine, which is extracted from meat. Co-incidentally, Mr Basunia was considering acquiring an internet sweets company to 'premiumise' it.
The London-based pair joined forces, and in July 2011 they launched Jealous, a range of sweets made from natural ingredients with no artificial colours or preservatives.
The sweets were first stocked in Selfridges and sold out within four days. Now, the company has just agreed a deal with Harrods, which will see the sweets hit the shelves in the Knightsbridge store within the month.
Over the next 12 months a distributor will take the Jealous brand into top department stores and hotels across Europe, including Spain, France, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands.
Mr Merza, who attended Regis Secondary School in Tettenhall, now known as Kings C.E. School, said: "We are thrilled to be working with Harrods. It is an iconic store and we are confident that they will be popular with customers looking for premium healthier sweets for grown ups."
Now living in Fulham, he still returns regularly to Wolverhampton to visit his family.
