A GREEK mum who moved to Dunfermline with nothing just two years ago is now the owner of an award-winning business.

Due to dire economic circumstances in her home country, Olga Gerogianni made the hard decision to move to a slightly colder climate with her husband Spiros and then 15-month-old son Achilleas in 2018 when she was nine months' pregnant.

They sold everything they had and started their new life in West Fife with just three suitcases and slept on the floor for a month in an empty apartment.

Olga planned to go back into working as a spa manager as she had done when they lived in Corfu but as her son, Aggelos, was born with Downs Syndrome she decided she would take a leap of faith to start her own soap-making business.

Now, Estia Soaps has was won an award in the Natural Beauty Awards and has entered wholesale as her products continue to grow in popularity.

She told the Press: "It was a huge risk to move to another country but I was just about to start working again when I fell pregnant again and then my husband lost his job.

"Greece is facing a huge economic crisis and that's now even worse with coronavirus so we had to make a huge decision.

"Just in a month we sold everything to get the money together to live in Scotland and we started with zero.

"I remember the health visitor coming to our apartment and we didn't have anything but a blow-up bed!

"She was so kind and brought us things and so many people in the area helped us too.

"My husband got a job in Rosyth and within two or three months we were settled – we were so glad we made the decision.

"It was very hard at the start but we have everything we need.

"Scotland is a brilliant country and we just love it here – people have just opened their arms and have never seen us as people from another country."

While Olga launched her business, she also started studying a course in business and management with the Open University.

Estia soaps are made from olive oil and are inspired by traditional Greek methods – the only olive oil soaps of their kind made in the UK which are not imported from abroad.

"I sell the soaps online and at markets – I've also managed to find some places across Scotland to stock my products," Olga said.

"I was about to get a unit before lockdown but that obviously became difficult and I'm still making the soaps at home for now.

"Then it was announced last week that I had won 'Best Buy' at the Natural Beauty Awards!

"I just hope it inspires people who think they are past it because they're over 30 or they have children with special needs and it would be too difficult to start anything.

"Starting from zero is nothing to be ashamed about and people shouldn't be frightened to start over.

"If you told me five years ago that I would be living in Scotland I wouldn't have believed it!

"And of course our boys are Scottish – I just hope that we will be able to understand to them!

"When wondering where we should go we wanted to go to an English-speaking country and I just fell in love with the Scottish landscape – it's like a fairytale!

"We haven't faced any racism here and there are so many opportunities – people are happy to have us here."

If you would like to find out more about Olga's award-winning products visit www.estiasoaps.co.uk