Meet the founder of ChocoRia
1. Hi Na’Ariyah, please tell us about the young lady behind ChocorRia.
I am 9 years old I live with my brother Malachi, my mum Chileshe and my dad Julian. I go to a Spanish school, my favourite sports are swimming, dancing and gymnastics. I enjoy cooking, DIY’s and life hacks. I love travelling and spending time with my family and friends
2. As a chocolate lover, I am very excited for the alternative, yet delicious product you have created. What was the inspiration behind it?
I’ve been eating ChocoRia for as long as I can remember. My mum came up with the recipe as a healthier chocolate option for my brother and I. I was originally going to write a cookbook and ChocoRia was one of the recipes so that is the recipe I picked to share with the world
3. You are not only an entrepreneur you are a YouTuber and a renowned speaker. How do you juggle so many hats at the same time?
I have learnt how to multi task. I like to plan everything out and organise everything in advance, so I can take on each task calmly.
4. Do you remember how you felt when you created your first pot of ChocoRia?
Yes, I do I was really excited to make it and package it, it was so much fun. I was excited to finally share ChocoRia with the world.
5. Who inspires you to be go after your dreams?
My Mum and Dad. They teach me to reach for the stars and that I can do anything I put my mind to, whenever I feel like quitting they encourage me to keep on going.
6. What is your favourite thing to do when you’re not running ChocoRia?
I really enjoy gymnastics, experimenting with DIY’s, YouTube, and cooking.
7. How did you fund it all in the beginning?
My parents helped me to fund my business.
8. Where can we buy ChocoRia?
I sell ChocoRia at events and on my website.
9. What advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs wanting to start their own business?
I would say find your passion and do what you love. Also believe in your self and never give up
10. What are your top tips on staying motivated?
· Remember that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
· Spend time with the people you love, they are your biggest supporters.
· If something dose not work out as your planned try again.
· If you cannot find a solution take 5 minutes off and do something else the solution will always come to you.
11. What plans do you have for ChocoRia, Youtube and your speaking career over the next 3 years
For my YouTube channel to grow. To have more speaking engagements, so I can inspire children and possibly adults. To also be inspired by people I meet. I would like to expand ChocoRia, to add another product or 2 to my range and travel the world and exhibit at as many events as possible.
To find out more about ChocoRia, head over to the website and connect on Youtube.
Emilie Vallauri is a 27-year-old program manager at Techstars with a passion for innovation. Born and raised in Nice, France, Emilie studied business and political sciences before embarking on a career punctuated by innovation and supporting startups.
Zsuzsa has been instrumental in growing Antavo from a startup to a scaleup. As Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder, she is transforming the company into a unique loyalty technology vendor, offering a next-gen, best-in-class solution to the loyalty sector.
Software engineering and product development is my specialisation - and I have had a wide range of experience across the industry. I had a brilliant 22-year long career at IBM, working across a number of roles, which I really loved.
Holly Zoccolan is an entrepreneur and Founder of new parenting app, Carol. Before Founding Carol and entering the tech space, Holly built successful online wellness brand The Health Zoc in 2016.
Anna Gudmundson is the CEO and co-founder of Sensate, a device that emits infrasonic waves that are synchronised to resonate with the specially composed hemispheric audio in the app.
Rebecca is Senior Vice President of Clients, Partnership and Creative Transformation at CreativeX, provider of an industry-first AI driven data platform to help the world’s most loved brands including PepsiCo, Nestle and Facebook achieve creative excellence.
It was more of a gut feeling that led us to the intersection of digitalisation, mobiles and the democratisation of payments. Paynetics felt strongly about making moving and managing money right for everyone and started building a platform that covers it all.
I’m Simon Goodman and I started out in PR, where I was introduced to the noble Choc Ice working on the Cadburys account. At the time they were looking to upgrade the humble choc ice.
In 2017, Matt launched Borrow A Boat, aka the ‘Airbnb’ of boats, making waves in the charter industry by offering a modern marketplace solution with the aim of making boating more accessible, affordable, flexible and inclusive for all.
Founded in 2021 by Alisa Patotsakaya, Immersive Fox is a text-to-video generation startup that specialises in providing businesses with AI-generated videos for sales and customer communication.
Samantha Gilchrist, co-founder and CEO of The Gilchrist Collection, shares her life as an entrepreneur.
Co-founded by Conrad Poulson in 2014, Huq has been at the forefront of utilising cutting- edge technologies and innovative mobility research methods.
Going from employee to founder was a huge leap of faith. I announced the agency just a few days after turning 26 and like most 26-year-olds, I hadn’t ever owned or run a business before.
Patchwork Health was co-founded by Dr Anas Nader and Dr Jing Ouyang with the mission to make truly flexible and sustainable working a reality for all healthcare staff, amid the current workforce crisis.
After a lifetime working as a project manager for some of the world’s largest tech companies, Jeb Buckler set up Startup Giants PLC to ensure that no good tech concepts should go to waste.
So, I encouraged Ben to officially incorporate The Handbag Clinic as its own independent luxury handbag offshoot in 2013 – all still operated through our ecommerce platform at the time.
I’m Diana Babics, founder of Nourish Awards. I began in finance (accounts and auditing) before deciding this simply wasn’t for me. I then headed off to university as a mature student, initially to study art and design and latterly interior architecture.
greenworkx is co-founded by two education sector workers, Mat llic and Richard Ng, who are passionate about the planet and believe reskilling and upskilling UK workers into green jobs is future-proofing the economy.
Blaise Hope, founder and CEO of Origin Hope, brings two decades of media experience to his groundbreaking content partnership venture.
Co-founded by Nisha Ramisetty and Sam Williams, the idea for Naksha was born in 2020 when cooking became an escape during lockdown.
Charlene Hurlock was inspired by her daughter and her best friend who independently started swapping their pre-loved clothes. Aside from being a Mum, Charlene's background is predominately in global exhibition sales and media advertising.
In North America, Iced Teas (Coldbrew) is a bustling £2bn marketplace. Yet, in the UK, despite being the second fastest-growing soft drink sub-category (after cold brew coffee), there is still a lack of appreciation for brands like Kaytea.
I’m Melissa Gauge, founder of SpareMyTime. I left my corporate role in 2016 to set up a City-based business with a couple of partners and another business by myself, an online platform.
Founded in 2006 by Amelia Peckham and Clare Braddel, Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks aims to empower those who need support to walk.
I’m Gerry Lianos - the co-founder of Raffolux, an online raffling platform that gives people the chance to win amazing prizes for a low cost and support charities close to their hearts.
Jason Tim is the CEO and co-founder of CloudSmiths and has been CEO for the past two years. Prior to this, he held previous roles at the company such as Managing Director and Sales Director.
My name is Lucy Bramley and I'm the founder of Ruched & Ready, one of the UK's leading size inclusive fashion labels helping women embrace their curves and feel confident.
KBF Enterprises was established in 2008 by Managing Director, Kieran Fisher and is the business behind two of the most recognised sports nutrition brands in the UK – Bodybuilding Warehouse® and Warrior®.
Matt Cater is co-founder of Clix Technologies, an innovative new company that offers the UK’s only mobile-first, fully customisable, Web App-based smart lockers.
Ben Maruthappu is a London-based doctor and CEO of Cera, a multi-award winning digital-first home healthcare company, which has grown 100-fold in the past three years, now delivering over 50,000 patient appointments a day.
The Natural Love Company was founded by friends and wedding photographers Ben Foster and Barney Walters. The Cornwall-based business was launched as a result of their previous careers being put on halt by the pandemic.
As the CEO of Botify, Adrien has had both a global and notable career, co-founding Botify back in 2012 and thereafter relocating to the United States from France. Adrien is passionate about shifting the organic search marketing landscape.
Sançar has spent years leading marketing teams at high-profile startups, including Typeform and Hotjar. Early in his career, he struggled to set work-life boundaries and lacked a clear understanding of his personal wellbeing needs and values.
Co-founded by Mike Robertson and Adrian Brown, AbbeyCross is the world’s first B2B trading and compliance marketplace, focused on improving underlying market infrastructure for Emerging Market (“EM”) currencies.
My name is Derk Roodhuyzen de Vries and I am the CEO and co-founder of Fixico. Alongside my business partner Mark van Laar, we created Fixico back in 2014 to revolutionise the car repair industry.
Linkup was founded by the two Manchester-based entrepreneurs, Jack Peagam and Ben Whatson, as they aim to step away from ‘traditional' career paths and combine their shared passion for creativity with business.
This funding will propel Criterion Capital's vision of redefining hospitality with its sleep-centric, design-forward hotel concept.
The theme of this year’s BBBAwards is #NEXT. Now in its 11th year, the BBBAwards is marking a new decade of celebration of the outstanding achievements of Black professionals and entrepreneurs in the UK.
Aistetic, a groundbreaking Oxford University AI spinout, has proudly announced its participation in the Techstars Future of Ecommerce Accelerator powered by eBay, a highly competitive program designed to help shape ecommerce.
An alarming new study of workplace leaders describes an environment of unconscious fear in modern-day leadership, leading to toxic culture, stunted growth, performance and productivity, and decision inertia.
Mambu, a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud banking platform, today announced it is now available in AWS Marketplace, making it one of the first core banking providers on the site.
Bengalis have been rewarded and acknowledged for their substantial contribution to healthcare, finance, politics, education and the arts.
Retail PR will be working with COOK in the lead up to Christmas, helping to support their PR objectives throughout the golden quarter.
A new cohort of six GeoTech and PropTech start-ups has just been selected to start on its Accelerator Programme.
In 2020, data confirmed that there are 1,223,850 tonnes of waste disposed in the ocean, with future predictions standing at a rise of 60% by 2030, 147.4% by 2040 and 274% by 2050.
A growing social enterprise supported by a global network, Impact Hub London Euston at Regent’s Place will offer under-served local communities affordable workspace and tailored business support, as well as arranging impactful engagement activities throughout Camden.
Phil Race appointed as Chief Executive as Jim Darragh steps down after seven successful years of leadership.
Appointment of product management leader, Phillip Burr, to bring Lumai’s game-changing AI technology to market across all regions.
New data released from Tech Climbers has revealed how Greater Manchester’s tech sector continues to thrive, as companies plan to attract millions in investment.
Appointments of Joel Cardenas as the new Head of Business Development for Latin America, and Ard Crebas as the new Head of Business Development for North America and the Caribbean.
Fastest growing modern-day learning management system, Thrive Learning, has announced a number of new appointments within the team as part of their ambitious growth plans.
Ai Build, the Additive Manufacturing (AM, also known as 3D printing) software company, has raised a Series A round of $8.5 million led by IQ Capital.
The Board of Arbuthnot Banking Group PLC ("Arbuthnot", the "Company" or the "Group") provides the following update regarding the trading performance of the Group for the three months to 30 September 2023.
The partnership enables service providers worldwide to access the UK network footprint with location-based intelligence and automated and standardised quoting.
EDHEC Business School and Ring Capital are proud to announce the creation of GENERATIONS Powered by EDHEC, an impact seed fund for socially- and environmentally-responsible startups.
Birmingham Tech Week 2023 is set to be the biggest in the event’s four-year history, with 7,500 people estimated to attend across five days.
John joins Arbuthnot Latham from Hampden & Co plc, where he was a Business Development Director and built strategic partnerships with private client advisors.
Sodexo Engage, the leading expert in employee engagement, today announces the launch and UK implementation of its new brand, Pluxee.
The company, founded by tech industry veteran Tom Dunning, has also seen its headcount jump from 15 to 26 full-time staff, with plans for additional key hires in the next year.
The new investment will support ambitions to become a global leader in 6G technology, improving the capacity and speeds of data transfer and improving the energy efficiency in networks through cloudification.
The High Value Manufacturing Catapult is pleased to announce the appointment of its new chair Steve Bagshaw CBE.
Each founder in the Ada Ventures portfolio will be entitled to claim up to 40 hours of childcare each year. The offering will be delivered via Bubble, the UK’s leading on-demand childcare platform (and an Ada portfolio company).
Shopblocks has raised funding from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
The new appointments come as demand for hybrid cloud storage with distributed file shares and safeguards against ransomware continues to grow rapidly.
The team leading Stockport’s new Merseyway Innovation Centre has now been announced.
A further £5.8 million for Scotland, £3.4 million for Wales and £2 million for Northern Ireland will be allocated to devolved administrations to support local and regional economies, in turn boosting growth and increasing productivity.
It was more of a gut feeling that led us to the intersection of digitalisation, mobiles and the democratisation of payments. Paynetics felt strongly about making moving and managing money right for everyone and started building a platform that covers it all.
I’m Simon Goodman and I started out in PR, where I was introduced to the noble Choc Ice working on the Cadburys account. At the time they were looking to upgrade the humble choc ice.
In 2017, Matt launched Borrow A Boat, aka the ‘Airbnb’ of boats, making waves in the charter industry by offering a modern marketplace solution with the aim of making boating more accessible, affordable, flexible and inclusive for all.
Founded in 2021 by Alisa Patotsakaya, Immersive Fox is a text-to-video generation startup that specialises in providing businesses with AI-generated videos for sales and customer communication.
Samantha Gilchrist, co-founder and CEO of The Gilchrist Collection, shares her life as an entrepreneur.
Co-founded by Conrad Poulson in 2014, Huq has been at the forefront of utilising cutting- edge technologies and innovative mobility research methods.