WHEN Kilwinning mum Jenny Trott realised there weren’t many job opportunities for disabled people in Ayrshire, including her son, she made the bold decision to set one up.

Fast forward a few months later and candle making company, Mecoco, was started. It stands for Meaningful Contribution in your Community, with disabled and non-disabled people working together.

And last week Mecoco opened the doors of its Dalry workshop to welcome visitors to see the team at work.

Jenny explained: “James was at an age where it was time to look at his options and to be honest they were few and far between so I thought, right, let’s make something that would offer disabled and non-disabled people the chance to work together and build a successful social enterprise.

“The team are employees and everyone has their part to play, from James putting the wicks in the candles, to Nieve putting the finished stickers on the products, it’s team work.

“Our community is us and you, whether you have lived with experience of disability or supporting someone who does, are a professional or choose to care about including disabled people in workplace then you are part of our story.

“We are thrilled to see our workshop open as we now have a base where people can visit and see the team at work, we will also be hosting candle making classes for anyone who is interested in learning.

“At Mecoco it’s about contributing to something for other people, team mates and customers, we are not a charity, we are a business.”

Mecoco has just been signed up as one of eBay for Change programme businesses set to have one-to-one mentoring through the international selling site.

Jenny explained: “This is a fantastic opportunity for us and we are thrilled to be named as one of the 50 companies to be mentored in the eBay programme. To be chosen is such a boost as we can now reach even more people and let them know about Mecoco products.”

The team will also be hosting a stall of their candles at John Lewis for a week this summer, reaching even more customers and you can visit their workshop and meet James and the team at

Capital Business Park in Dalry.