‘If you feel it, just do it’ is the advice of Feyi Raimi-Abraham. ‘Don’t stop and wait to have all the ducks in a row for your business idea, because it will never happen.’

 

The south-Londoner has started her first commercial venture at the age of 52. It is called The Black Dementia Company and it stems from personal experience. During lockdown, she was put on furlough from her job as a community education coordinator with a national charity. She became a full-time carer for her mother, who has dementia.

 

People with dementia find it comforting to reminisce about the past using familiar objects. But Feyi found it hard to find relevant ones for her mother, who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago.

 

Many dementia aids would include things like pictures of seaside towns of Devon in the 1950s, or milkmen doing their rounds in London. But her mother wanted to talk about Hibiscus flowers and hummingbirds and listen to Calypso music.

 

The entrepreneur has devised colouring books and jigsaw puzzles featuring tropical flowers and scenes from the Caribbean in the 1960s.

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Do have a look at the website and the variety of resources available – The Black Dementia Company.