A British businesswoman who launched a rival to Coca Cola from her kitchen has sold nearly two BILLION cans worldwide in just over 18 months.

Aykiz Shah, 27, launched Salaam Cola in October 2023 without any capital investment, spending a mere £160 on some sample cans.

The mum reached a turnover of €6million in Europe in 2024 - including £1.6m from the UK alone - selling her 66p cans and bottles for £1.

She previously worked in recipe development for a drinks company and used her experience to create the original formula and find a manufacturer in Turkey.

Describing how the recipe does not include aspartame, Ms Shah said: "I wouldn't put in something that would damage peoples health."

The mother-of-three, from Brentford, west London, pitched the concept to distributors across the UK and found four willing to pay up-front to get the first batch made.

She used TikTok and Instagram to spread the word about the brand and its charitable mission to help displaced and injured Palestinians.

Saleem - a commonly-used greeting in Muslim countries - was soon stocked by grocery stores, fast food suppliers and ethnic minority retailers across the UK.

It is now a global brand, selling more than 1.9 billion cans of pop to date in 16 countries across four different continents with several unique recipes for a variety of drinks.

Part of Salaam's appeal is that it donates 10 per cent of all proceeds to charitable causes and in 2024 the company was able to donate £250,000 to charity from UK sales alone.

And Aykiz believes it is the charity work that the company embraces which has been the most crucial element to the company's expansion.

She said: "We wanted to create more of an ethical drink for people who are going through poverty or malnutrition to be able to give back and help vulnerable people. "

"It sent a powerful image to our consumers as we are partnered with ‘Muslims in Need' a registered charity."

"Every month we calculate the proceeds that need to go to the projects and we transfer them the money. "

"But it's not just the money, we actively work with the charity too, to do things like open schools for Palestinian children who were displaced to Egypt."

"I do think that a lot of people were looking for ethical companies because of the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] movement against Israel and the ICE situation with Coca Cola in the US with immigrant workers – there's been a lot of problems with the legacy companies."

"But we've created a brand which proves we're here for the people, and distributors and consumers seek us out for that."

"Giving back is in our DNA as Muslims and my clients who work with us give back an extra 10 per cent on top of that, which is really making a difference."

"Every month we provide a video on social media to show where the profits are going and for a lot of people they don't feel guilty for buying a can which backs causes that they believe in – it's a no brainer for a nice drink and the charity work we do."

"And that's why I think Salaam Cola has become a movement and a household name."

"For me personally, it's turned my life upside down - people work years and years to establish things that Salaam has managed to do in such a short space of time."

Yet, despite employing a second member of staff in the UK in August 2024, Aykiz still works from home at her kitchen island.

She is now overseeing the company creating other flavours of fizzy pop, each with a twist on the country it supports.

Salaam Cola was originally for Palestine, with the diet version – Seriously No Sugar – raising money for Syria.

The company has also developed 'Yemonade' to help malnourished children in desperate need of medical assistance and food.

Salaam has added 'Lebanorange' as its most recent addition – set to come out over the next few weeks – which has been designed to support Lebanon.

Despite principally focusing on the Middle East, Aykiz has been pleasantly surprised that the product has been supported by all kinds of people across many countries, including Coronation Street actor Sean Ward.

She said: "I initially thought it would be a predominantly Muslim-backed product but really everyone's on board. "

"We have distributors which are businesses that are run by Muslims, but equally we have lots of non-Muslim supporters who believe in the message too."

"When you step back, you see that there's actually a lot of love in the world, despite all the negativity."

"We have been able to provide 10,000 Palestinians medical aid - we did that primarily for children in Al-Nasr hospital in Egypt who were victims of severe burns."

"In Syria, we sponsor orphans through school and we are rebuilding a mosque that was bombed."

"And we have a community kitchen in Yemen which provides food for families because there is such a problem with malnutrition - I believe it is the highest amount of poverty in the world."

She added: "We've even had celebrity backers, such as Sean Ward, who has been a massive supporter of our work, and volunteers regularly to overlook and visit the Salaam charity projects."

Despite the success, Aykiz still feels very fortunate and grateful towards the four companies that originally backed her product.

She said: "We originally sold the product to four distributors across the UK, in Lancashire, the Midlands, London and Glasgow. "

"They prepaid for a full container of Saalam and bought the stock to resell."

"I was lucky – four buyers was still a relatively low number of backers, and the business all depended on how it went with them, but it's crazy that it took off straight away."

As a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry, Aykiz is proud of having broken stereotypes in the drinks arena – whilst wearing a burqa and a veil.

Aykiz said: "I do think the drinks industry is a very cut throat industry for everyone, but for women it's just a touch harder."

"I'm a very conservative Muslim and I dress very modestly. That's another stereotype that we're breaking. "

"But people love the product and I think they like working with me which is nice because I'm not judged by my appearance."

"I want to inspire and empower women to achieve for themselves, no matter the limitations and how they look."

The mother to a seven-year-old, two-year-old and a new-born is grateful for the support from her husband, Mohammad, 36, and tries not to let the stress catch up to her.

She said: "I have to remind myself to not let the stress catch up to me, that life's too short for it. "

"The meetings with Canada and the US can be in the middle of the night – at the start I was sleeping about two or three hours a day because it went viral straight away. I was living on coffees."

"I didn't know what I was doing, every day was a learning curve and I was making it up as I went along."

She added: "I don't know how I did it or how it happened – I guess it's God's plan."