My name is Moses Odong and I am the founder of Taxi Spirit Co Ltd. We are a small batch distillery producing London’s first White Rum - Cabby’s Rum. I have been a London taxi driver for eleven years. I completed the Knowledge in two years and decided eight years in to try something new. With the help of my partner Bianca Whiskey and a conversation with a family member, that’s how the idea came to be. The journey then began!

What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?

I approached breweries in London to give me work experience an internship, but within 3 months of approaching them all I was still waiting. Not to get too disheartened it inspired me to start my own venture. I wrote an email to Herriot-watt university (in Scotland), to a lady called Dr Anne Hill. She then introduced me to one of the lecturers Abhishek Banik. From there, Abhi literally took the journey from Scotland two days a week for a year, teaching me how to brew and distill not only was it a process, it was intense. I thought the knowledge was hard! The end goal was to produce a product that was handcrafted, made in Britain and that drinkers could enjoy and love.

What are your thoughts on failure?

If “failure isn’t an option, then success isn’t either. Success is just failure repeated until it works.” Great quote from Seth Godin.

Does your company help the community that you’re located in?

Our location has been hugely advantageous for both aspects of business; sales & customer relations and operations & distribution. The Eastend of London has been developing quickly with great residential and commercial projects and now home of great bars, brewery taprooms and cafes. Having the distillery at stone throw distance from Shoreditch, we had unique opportunities to build great relationship with trade and customers through popup events. The location also benefited from its proximity to North Circular and Blackwall Tunnel for deliveries and distribution. With the Central Line being close to the vicinity, it helped the commute for enthusiastic visitors and employees.

What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?

My best advice would be to take the leap of faith. Your product is as good as you want it to be. Trying is believing.

What social media channel would you say has worked the best for your business and why?

Instagram is a visual platform which helps you form a more personal connection with customers. You can share photos and videos of your brand and happy customers to engage your audience. A visual feed can reflect your brand's uniqueness and differentiate your business from others.

How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?

With the industry being saturated with craft gin distilleries we thought it would be a great opportunity to start a new language - the rum language! A rum distillery is unheard of in central London bridging that gap in the market is where we thought we could come in. By a controlled accident we also produced the amazing - Cabby’s Gin. We were experimenting with juniper and pimento berries as soul of our spiced rum and got our decadent gin recipe from it.

Is word of mouth working to your advantage?

Rum has always been an irreverent spirit! Notoriously one of the bestselling in spirit category yet very little knowledge and legislation around it. The biggest challenge was to differentiate our rum from rest of the mass produced and British branded imported rum. But we are painstakingly working on the grassroot level, door to door, person to person, one step at a time which is working as the ripple effect of word of mouth.

Any new product launches we should know about?

We started with White Rum to show our skills and dedication to quality. Since we have achieved it, we have been working relentlessly to develop our other styles of rum; high ester spiced rum and barrel aged golden rum being couple of them. Keep a look out for Our new Black Rum.