Monique Dotsey is the founder of Imperfect Yet Yummy, a social enterprise tackling food waste by teaching children in school to cook with leftover food. In 2022 she won the Engagement and Progress Award at our Enterprise Challenge finals along with a Generator Bursary funded by Santander. These prizes helped her to start her venture and buy her first supplies. Since leaving the university Monique has continued to develop her business at a local school and teaches after-school clubs and workshops. The workshops encourage pupils to come together to learn more about food waste and its damage to our planet, society and economy while teaching them to cook with leftover or imperfect ingredients. The school was awarded funding for her project to build a purpose-built kitchen meaning she can offer classes to more pupils and cook more exciting recipes.
The Enterprise Challenge, I think is one of the most beautiful things I've done. I was a bit scared when I started it but the Generator gave me the confidence. I realised you just need one person to believe in you and then once they're there you can't give up because you know you have someone behind you to push you. My experience was wonderful. I've learnt alot. I've gained confidence. To be honest the Enterprise Challenge, the Generator team believed more in me than myself at the beginning. My best advice, maybe the only one, is just go for it!
This month we caught up with her at her weekly class where she taught her students to make a salad, a smoothie and a breakfast bowl using leftover foods. You can find out more about Monique's business on .
