Taking her knowledge and experience in health, molecular biology, chemistry and ecological studies, Bridget Molloy was inspired to start Bridget’s Botanicals, a business designed to promote and educate to others on the synergy between environmentally sustainable and natural health products.
She began seeing consultants at the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in 2015, and soon joined Leading Edge for Entrepreneurs in spring 2016. “All of the consultants with whom I have been working with for over a year have been amazing,” Molloy said.
Through Leading Edge she learned focus – for her to make an impact on people’s health and connection to the planet, she had to learn to make her vision into a product. Molloy had to learn how to hone in on and explore one idea, whether that’s marketing and creative aspects or financials and logistics.
After she graduated from Leading Edge, Molloy launched three new flavors of herbal cocktail bitters, liquid extraction of herbs that carries digestive benefits. Molloy entered this product into the Denver Metro SBDC’s latest Trout Tank: Food Frenzy, where she was a finalist and pitched her products to investors and lenders. Her company is becoming a certified B Corporation to minimize environmental impact from partnering with local companies to monitoring energy and water usage during product production.
Molloy credits her major successes to the resources found in SBDC’s Leading Edge: “I am so thrilled to have been able to work with the SBDC. It has truly been a pivotal partnership in the success of my business thus far!”
In the next year, she looks forward to producing her product in a commercial kitchen, seeing Wild World Bitters at bars and stores around Colorado and working closely with the coral reef and rainforest conservation organizations that in part benefit from proceeds of her products.
Olivia Rollene is the marketing and program specialist for the Denver Metro SBDC.