Mrs Touma had taken her young son Rohan to an Oxley Mall hairdresser for a haircut when she noticed a “for lease” sign in an island stall in the mall.

It was early October 2005, Mrs Touma was seven months pregnant with her second child and about to go on maternity leave from her job as a primary school teacher, but she saw the sign as a sign to pursue a long-held dream.

Within weeks the couple had put their new business plan into action.

They took out a short-term lease on the shop space and sourced a variety of gourmet treats to create a mix of 60 hampers.

Their hope was the hampers would be seen by customers as great Christmas gift ideas.

Little did they expect to sell almost 1000 hampers in the lead up to Christmas.

The convincing start to The Highland Hamper Company has seen the business go from strength to strength.

The company won the 2007 Southern Highlands Business of the Year Award for Excellence in a Home-based Business and this year was selected as a finalist in two categories of the Illawarra Business Awards.

But possibly Mr and Mrs Touma’s proudest achievement has been to develop a company that largely sources Highlands products.

Mrs Touma said when she started The Highland Hamper Company there were about 20 local businesses that produced food and beauty items suitable for her hampers.

She said the number of Highlands suppliers for the hampers had grown significantly since that time.

“The Southern Highlands is becoming a premier gourmet food and wine producer,” she said.

“We are very lucky to be able to include so many quality local goods in our hampers.

“We feature a variety of products in our hampers from around the country but our policy has always been to look locally first, then regionally and nationally.

“And, although we have travelled far and wide in search of products, we have found that in most cases we don’t have to look past the Southern Highlands for the best quality items.

“I believe that by supporting local businesses first, it is benefiting us all.”

For the full story see the Southern Highland News, Friday, November 28

jackie.meyers@ruralpress. com