Meet the bodybuilding accountant who has created her own range of overnight oats

Suzanne Ferreira has been interested in nutrition ever since she took up competitive bodybuilding.

She had the idea of setting up The Proper Oats Company, which is based in York, last year but it wasn’t until Ms Ferreira lost her job as an accountant doing contract work for the Government due to Covid-19 that she was spurred into taking the plunge.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Ms Ferreira said: “Sometimes you do need a catalyst and if you’re brought pretty close to the wire in terms of being able to pay your bills or not, that’s sometimes the nudge that you need.”

The fitness enthusiast admits that it was “terrifying” losing her job at the height of the pandemic and having to start up The Proper Oats Company. However, she says the move is paying off.

She said: “I’ve got a mortgage to pay on my own and a daughter to clothe and feed. It was daunting but I needed the push really. It worked out well in the end but it is terrifying.”

Ms Ferreira teamed up with a skyr producer in North Yorkshire to package her overnight oat pots. While the business is only in its infancy, the accountant turned entrepreneur is already looking to international horizons.

The coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown has led to people questioning their diets. Ms Ferreira believes that while initially a lot of people turned to comfort eating more and more are now beginning to realise the importance of eating healthily.

This is borne out in the Government’s proclamations of tackling obesity amongst the general population.

Ms Ferreira said: “The new year spike that you see in people wanting to get fit and eat well obviously begins in January. I think this next year will probably be the biggest that the industry has probably ever seen because of Covid-19 but also because of the Government’s war on obesity.

“If people want to eat healthily, the choice is there. There is a wider variety of healthier products available now than there were say ten years ago. There is definitely a shift. It’s a really positive shift.”

It was a lack of choice that initially drove Ms Ferreira towards setting up The Proper Oats Company.

She said: “I do bodybuilding competitions on the side as a hobby, which is a bit of a strange hobby - especially for an accountant.

“Nutrition and the food side of it has always been interesting to me and I just knew that there was definitely a market for it.

“It was a sort of scratch your itch scenario because I couldn’t find decent breakfasts or things that I could eat post-workout if I was rushing around. It all had sugar in.

“I just couldn’t believe the amount of times where I would pick a packet up, no matter whether it was ready to eat or was dry and you had to add water to, and it had sugar in.”

Ms Ferreira added that she has always been really interested in business and always knew she was capable of running her own company.

The founder of The Proper Oats Company has found mentoring very valuable on her business journey, helping give her a direction in business.

Accounts to bodybuilding

Suzanne Ferreira admits that it’s not often accountants get into bodybuilding and her own journey into it was inadvertent. She got into the sport in 2016 after joining a gym.

Ms Ferreira said: “As I trained more, I met more people within the fitness world and I just remember thinking ‘I’m sure I could have a go at doing a show’ so I did. Now I train six times a week and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The most enjoyable aspect of bodybuilding is “the journey” towards a competition, she says. Ms Ferreira added: “Actually putting a bikini on and standing on a stage to me is just terrifying.”

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