A FEMALE entrepreneur who began her business in the wake of her father's death from Covid says "I just know he'd be proud".

Jasmin Sanded, 24, is the founder of the online sweet company Kande, a venture her father had always encouraged her to create.

The small business, which is currently run from the spare bedroom of Jasmin's home, was set up in her father's memory after he died last year.

Jasmin, from Newhaven, lost her father Marwan in June 2020 after he caught Covid during the pandemic.

She had regularly discussed her dream of setting up her own online sweet shop with him, something that he had urged her to do.

The Argus: Jasmin and her father Marwan.Jasmin and her father Marwan.

Jasmin said: "I was always a bit nervous to start it, it was such a big step. When he passed I finally decided to do it and take the plunge.

"Because it was in his remembrance, I needed to name it something that would reflect that it was for him and so I settled on Kande, the Arabic word for candy, because my dad was Arabic."

Jasmin was working from home for a call centre when her father died and was told she could not take any time off which led her to resign her position.

This in turn gave her the chance to set up Kande, an online pick 'n' mix business that allows customers choose what they want from a wide selection of sweets.

Since then the company has seen success and Jasmin estimates she has sold around 2,000 orders.

The Argus: Declan Rice enjoying Kande sweets.Declan Rice enjoying Kande sweets.

West Ham footballer Declan Rice has even posted on social media that he is a fan.

She said: "I know there are companies that are doing way more than me but for me just seeing it growing and growing every month is just amazing to me."

Kande is run solely by Jasmin herself from a bedroom at her house, she single handedly deals with orders, shipments, and the website.

"I actually love doing it all on my own, it's been a challenging year for a number of reasons but I'm really happy with how it is going so far," she said.

The Argus: Cartoon of the pick 'n' mix

Jasmin told The Argus that one way she wanted to set her company apart from others was to have a state of the art website.

"I quite literally put blood sweat and tears into the website, I'm so proud of it. I really wanted it to stand out from other online sweet places' sites," she said.

Jasmin is currently holding down a second job as an after school club assistant so that she can invest more money into Kande.

She said: "I have such huge aspirations for my business, I would love to have a unit and a whole team behind me at some point but I'm happy doing it by myself at the moment."

Following the success of Kande, Jasmin says she is grateful that she can commemorate her father through her company.

She said: "I miss my dad all the time and he was a massive part of my life. I just know he'd be proud and I can't wait to see what the future holds."

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