Celebrating Welsh Start Ups: ORTIR Apothecari

06/03/23

In this week’s celebration of Welsh entrepreneurs, Business in Focus proudly presents Lisa Howarth, founder of ORTIR Apothecari. A niche perfume house based in West Wales, ORTIR Apothecari creates fragrances locally on their farm by blending oils extracted from aromatics produced on Welsh soil.

Launched in May 2022, the name ORTIR is a combination of three Welsh words that read ‘of the land’. Lisa came up with the name as a way of capturing a bit of Wales in each bottle and creating a sense of place with her products. ORTIR Apothecari grows and distils key botanicals to make unique fragrance compositions. From growing the botanicals to harvesting, distilling, blending and packaging, everything is done locally on the farm.

When Lisa was looking for business advice and support, she contacted Business Wales to be a part of their mentoring scheme. Lisa was put in touch with a mentor who encouraged her and gave her the confidence she needed to bring her idea to life.

Of her experience with Business Wales, Lisa said, “Esther, my mentor, made a difference right from the first meeting where she encouraged me to trust my own judgement, and gave me the confidence and focus to move forward with my marketing and sales strategies. She pushed me to believe in my idea and business plan and helped me every step of the way by providing me with the knowledge and the right set of tools to take my business plan forward.”

At Business in Focus, we aim to recognise home-grown talent and celebrate Welsh start-ups. If you have a dream to create a business, we can support you.