Hadleigh father establishes online business for diabetes sufferers after his son is diagnosed with the condition

A Suffolk father whose son has type 1 diabetes has set up an online business selling consumables, equipment and fashion accessories for diabetes sufferers.

David Smith from Hadleigh launched www.diabeticsupply.co.uk earlier this year after struggling to find products of quality which people with diabetes could use to carry around their equipment in.

His son Evan, aged 11, was diagnosed as having diabetes around 18 months ago.

“I set in mind to open a one-stop shop for the UK diabetic community, which sells as much breadth of product as I felt we could,” he said.

“There are so many people doing amazing things for the diabetic world but often they are small hobby businesses and so hard to scale to the whole UK.”

He added: “We have at the heart of what we do the community in mind all the time.

“Why should a five year-old not be able to carry their paraphernalia in a pink unicorn bag? Why should a teenager not be able to personalise their equipment? Why should a 30 year-old woman not be able to have a fashion bag which also caters for her finger pricker and insulin pen?”

Six months in, David, a former finance director who has now quit his job to concentrate solely on the project, says he services between 700 and 1,000 orders a month.

He also plans to manufacture his own items and is working on a distribution partnership with a leading US supplier.