Meet the founder of Fused

Fiona Uyema is a TV Cook, cookbook author and creator of Fused by Fiona Uyema, a collection of healthy cooking essentials designed to make mealtimes simple and healthy. The Fused range includes stir fry sauces, curry pastes, ready chopped ingredients and other store cupboard essentials.

All are made with 100% natural ingredients and without any refined sugars, and no artificial ingredients and preservatives. Fused’s flavours speak for themselves, earning national awards in the UK and Ireland, including recent wins at the Great Taste Awards 2022 and the UK Quality Food & Drink Awards 2021. 

Tell us about the founder behind the brand?

I’m from a small town in Ireland, in county Tipperary. At university, I studied International Marketing & Japanese at DCU. After living and working in Japan for several years, I returned to Ireland and started working in a tax role, helping Japanese companies manage their tax compliance in the EU. I went on to complete the Irish Tax Exams and become a qualified tax consultant. I used my Japanese language skill set and insight into Japanese business culture to assist Japanese companies with a presence in Europe to manage their tax affairs.

However, during my time in Asia and Japan, in particular, I had fallen in love with the region and varied cuisines, as well as with my now husband Gilmar, who's of Okinawan heritage. Home in Ireland, I started a small food blog. Before I knew it, I had a cookbook deal, was hosting cookery demos at food festivals, and appearing regularly in the media and on national TV -  I’m now a regular guest chef on Ireland AM. In 2015, together with Gilmar, I launched Fused by Fiona Uyema, a range of Asian cooking essentials. 

There’s always a lightbulb moment before the beginning of a new venture. What was that moment for you?

After years of living and travelling in Asia, when I returned home, I noticed that many of the Asian-inspired sauces on supermarket shelves contained unnecessary additives and refined sugars. At the same time, at every single cookery demo and event I hosted, I met time-strapped people who wanted to cook healthy meals but struggled to make nutritious meals delicious in a short space of time. I was still working in my tax job, but in the back of my mind were these people and a vision of helping as many of them as possible to eat, feel and live better. 

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

Inspired by these people and the bold flavours of Japan, China, Thailand and Korea, I began testing recipes in my kitchen. My goal then, and still my goal today, is to make healthy Asian-inspired flavours and food more accessible to more people. 

I first launched a trio of naturally-fermented-flavoured soy sauces. These are still among our best-selling products and a brilliant way to add immense flavour to any dish quickly. Over the years, I’ve expanded the Fused range of dinner-time heroes to include stir fry sauces, curry pastes, ready-chopped ingredients and other store cupboard essentials such as coconut milk and white miso paste. They all come with the promise that they are made with 100% natural ingredients and no refined sugars. 

Do you have a morning routine or ritual to start your day on the right foot?

After breakfast together as a family, my husband Gilmar and I will get the kids ready for school. The school is just 2km from our house, so we’ll either walk or cycle there, along with our dog, Rio. Once they’ve been dropped off, Gilmar and I head back home and get straight into work at the Fused HQ - a.k.a our home office. Once I’m at my desk, before I open any emails, I’ll always check my calendar for meetings and then set aside a couple of minutes to schedule my day and priorities. I find if I don’t do this, I’m far less productive with my time and get caught up with small ad-hoc tasks.

Working with a co-founder can be tricky, so understanding and compromise is important. How have you both found the process of building a business together? What makes it work?

Gilmar, my husband, is Fused’s co-founder, so as well as working together, we have the additional challenges of everyday home and family life to overcome. In all areas, compromise and knowing and playing to each other's strengths is key. Gilmar is constantly calm, a great sounding board and brings so much to the Fused business with over 20 years of experience in the FMCG industry. He has mentored me through so much, particularly when I lacked confidence initially due to a fear of public speaking. He kept telling me: ‘You can.’ 

How did you fund the business in the early stages?

Aside from support from our local business enterprise office, from the very beginning and right up to this day, we have funded the business ourselves through loans. Gilmar and I are 100% shareholders in Fused. 

How important is company culture and what is your top tip to get it right?

I believe that in life and business, you need to surround yourself with good people and work on building positive relationships. If you constantly respect people, be that suppliers, contractors or employees, and their opinions, they appreciate that and do their best for you. My commitment to building relationships has been a critical factor in the business’s growth.

Fused is a real family business, so much so that it is just myself and Gilmar that manage everything. However, we work with several freelance professionals and creatives who I see as valued team members. I’m committed to building these relationships, maintaining a strong culture of open dialogue and offering them full flexibility. Because of this approach, we’ve been lucky to build a loyal team of contractors who do great work for us. 

Any new product launches we should know about?

We recently launched a new condiments range, including Fused Katsu Curry Ketchup and Japanese Style Hot Sauce, with 100% of the profits going directly towards the Irish Red Cross’s relief efforts in Ukraine. This NPD had been in the works for some time, and we were planning the launch when the war broke out. After making an initial donation to support the relief efforts, as the sad and shocking events continued to unfold in Ukraine, we decided that donating 100% of the profits from the sauces was a way that we, as a small business, could continue to contribute. For people who were already inclined to chip in to support Ukrainian refugees, it's a way for us to essentially 'match' their donation by thanking them with a bottle of delicious sauce. In the broader scheme of things, it’s a small gesture, but we truly believe that our actions as individuals and businesses can add up to create bigger positive change. 

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

My advice to any entrepreneur starting out is to accept that things take a lot longer than you might expect them to, so factor this in and be patient. When I started Fused, I knew I loved creating recipes and dishes however, as I had no retail experience, I was quite naive in believing it would all scale up quicker than it did. I thought we’d get our product into stores quickly – not realising it can take 18 months to get something on a supermarket shelf, and that’s if everything goes smoothly. Fortunately, my husband Gilmar has retail experience, which helped enormously, and it’s all working out brilliantly now, but if I did it again, I’d probably be more realistic. 

What routines have you implemented to ensure that you don’t ignore your mental health?

I’m quite strict with setting aside time for activities that allow me to switch off from work completely; family time, getting outdoors, going for a walk with friends and playing tennis. I sometimes block off time specifically in my diary to stick to my commitment to take time away from my desk. I started playing tennis only in the last few years at a local tennis club, it is now part of my weekly routine. It’s truly become a form of meditation for me. You can’t think of anything else when you’re on the court. It’s one of the rare opportunities during the week when I get time for myself. 

How is digitisation empowering your business?

Since the beginning of Covid-19, in particular, we’ve seen a massive surge in e-commerce. Before 2020, we had an online retail presence, but our physical retail presence remained number one for us. During Covid, this was turned on its head. In response, we built a new website, which now continues to form a big part of our business. 

While stores have reopened and people have returned to normal life, the digital transition will continue to impact our societies and daily lives more and more. Companies can’t afford to neglect this revenue stream. It’s more important than ever for businesses to stay close to their customers’ changing expectations and be prepared to evolve accordingly. As a small business, this is both a challenging resource-wise but also a great opportunity. It’s empowering to have a direct line of communication and sales to our customers.