GBEA HAPPY NEWS

It’s easy to start feeling more than a little overwhelmed with the bad news right now which is why, with our partner Printed.com, we’re on a mission to highlight the good; the entrepreneurs & businesses who are doing amazing things, who have achieved so much (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic), who may have turned their skills to good and who deserve to be recognised.

Charity Film Awards 2020 will be going virtual

Over the past four years Charity Film Awards has become a very special campaign and one of the biggest cause-based film movements in the world, recognised by IMDB and BFI. The films we celebrate are unexpected, inspiring, positive, heart-warming and powerful.

The awards are determined to continue to celebrate the UK’s amazing charity sector, which is so vital at this challenging time and needs our support more than ever, so they will be running this year’s Awards Ceremony as a virtual event.

The stream will be broadcast on the Charity Film Awards website and YouTube.

One Million Steps app made free for charities and businesses

Walking is great for our physical and mental health. But we tell ourselves we can’t find the time, we’re tired, we’ll start tomorrow. Walk, jog, run or even dance your way to 10,000 steps a day for 100 days. Those one million steps add up to awesome 500 miles! Turn those steps into fundraising efforts with One Million Steps.

One Million Steps understands the current crisis, and have risen to the challenge. Million Steps is now free for any charity and any business (and charity they support) no onboarding, no fees, no costs, no risks.

Oltco installs Recycle Bound surface at the Eden Project

Oltco has grown to become the leading independent resin bound specialist in the UK. With three expert installation teams and experienced office staff.

Oltco Cornwall provided the Eden Project with stunning pathways made with recycled plastic which can withstand a high footfall, is anti-slip, and low-maintenance and can be enjoyed by visitors. They love teaming up with businesses that reflect their ethos of protecting and safeguarding our planet and environment.

John Stapleton kicks off Rockstar Series at Home Grown

Home Grown is a private members’ club for high-growth entrepreneurs. An exclusive membership club offering space for like-minded people to network, entertain and grow in beautiful surroundings.

The Home Grown infamous Rockstar Series returned in April, with multi-exit entrepreneur John Stapleton. Fellow member and Founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Francesca James, talked to John about his inspiring entrepreneur journey with over 30 years’ experience in pioneering new FMCG categories and establishing and growing consumer-led businesses in both the UK and the USA. In 1987 John co-founded The New Covent Garden Soup Co Ltd., which pioneered and grew the fresh soup category in the UK. On reaching over £20m revenue, New Covent Garden Soup Co was sold in 1998. John then co-founded Glencoe Foods Inc., designed to bring the fresh soup concept to the US. On returning to Europe, John established a consumer branded food consultancy and later co-founded Little Dish, which supplies healthy, natural and convenient meals and snacks to children over one year old. Having grown to approx. £15m annual revenues, John sold Little Dish in 2017.

Brewdog’s James Watt gives away best-selling book for free

A decade of dog, 1000 employees, and two breweries later, Brewdog are the fastest growing Food & Drinks company in the UK, one of the Times Top 100 Best Employers, and breaking into international markets, they are on a mission to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as they are.

BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt offers a business bible for a new generation. It’s anarchic. It’s irreverent. It’s passionate. It’s BrewDog. And at the moment, it’s free!

Mrs Bucket launches decontamination cleaning services

Boss Brewing launches delivery service and Pub in a Pack

Mrs Bucket is a multi award-winning cleaning business with over 250 staff. Founded in 2005 by Rachael Flanagan. At the age of 18 she had the ambition to start a unique cleaning company where standards and service were her main passion for driving the company forward.

The team have recently launched Prevention and Decontamination cleaning services, specifically designed to target and eliminate the spread of COVID-19.

They’re launching the service with one packaging type – a mixed case of 12.

They’ve also created a Pub in a Pack, so people can recreate their favourite night out, from the comfort of their own home. Imployable’s mission is to revolutionise an industry by creating a system that improves efficiency, cuts the cost of recruitment and gives equal opportunity to people looking for jobs and careers.

During these times it is important to stay mentally active, have a goal and achieve it. Imployable have therefore partnered with the Study Academy to bring all registered imployable users a completely free qualification which is CPD & Birmingham University accredited, for the duration of the lockdown.

Impact Summit makes a speaker announcement #GBEAalumni

Impact Summit is a platform for some of the most innovative minds of our times. They celebrate the emergence of individuals and companies building and rethinking models for success.

Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go, the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food, has been given a speaker spot for #ImpactSummit20. The free app connects retailers who have unsold food available with local customers who purchase, collect and enjoy it

Named in Forbes 30 under 30 in Europe and shortlisted for the GBEA Entrepreneur For Good Award in 2019, Jamie is changing attitudes and reducing the impact of food waste on our world.

Find and support local businesses so they can find and support you

iTown is a free app for towns, villages and high streets across the UK. Support your local business and order the items you need or love for collection or delivery to your door. The team are working with a number of councils and town leaders to help connect their highstreet to local customers. Find out how iTown can help support your area.

Madlug designs activity book for children in care

From kitchen to global empire, King of Shaves turns 27 years old

There are thousands of children in care who are now having reduced contact with birth families and siblings due to Covid-19. Most already feel lost in the care system and that no one cares. Now is a great opportunity to show them that we care and to get your children involved in making a difference.

The Madlug Activity Book is Dave’s solution to helping you do this. It’s jam-packed with all sorts of puzzles and activities to keep hands busy and minds occupied. Madlug have designed games, doodles and dot to dots to help inspire a child’s creativity and reward their curiosity.

Created in Will King’s kitchen, King of Shaves is now 27 years old. Born in 1993. Pre-internet. Pre-Trump presidency. Pre-cheap airlines. Pre-Zoom. Originally conceived to make shaving enjoyable. Now gaining new fans as a highly rated handwashing gel. Mindful Chef are a health-focused food box company set up by school friends Giles, Myles and Rob. Since their launch in 2015, they’ve shipped over 10,000,000 ingredients from incredible small farms across the UK.

For the people currently working around the clock to keep our nation safe and healthy, here’s a little thank you from the entire Mindful Chef community. If you email hello@mindfulchef.com from your NHS address, they’ll give you a code for 30% off their healthy recipe boxes throughout this time.

Hey Girls offers vouchers to Young Scot Carers #BuyOneGiveOne

For every Hey Girls product sold, a box of sanitary products is given to girls and young women in the UK from low-income families. The aim is to eradicate period poverty in the UK.

Young Scot have committed to support their #YSCarers with an online vouchers to spend on the Hey Girls website, where you can purchase sanitary products for yourself and donate some to someone in need with a £10 Hey Girls voucher.

The Goodwash Company donates care packs to NHS workers

‘The Goodwash Company’ is a social enterprise that gives 100% of profits from product sales to ‘The Goodwash Foundation’ to fund projects that help improve the lives of animals and people.

They have given around 4,000 wash packs to NHS trusts in Wales, food banks and King’s College Hospital London. The packs include travel size shampoo and soap.

To show further support, each time you purchase a soap bar from The Goodwash Company they will send you a complimentary ‘ration bar’ for you to give to another member of the community as a thank you #DIOLCH. They have even left a space on the label for you to add a name.

FutureX makes resources free for entrepreneurs

FutureX creates and curates content for business leaders building a more sustainable, socially-conscious global economy.

Through their online resource platform, international leadership programmes, large-scale summits and community events, they support entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs at every stage of their journey.

In this uncertain time, community is more important than ever. To support purposedriven entrepreneurs during Covid-19, they have made the FutureX Plus community free for solo-entrepreneurs and freelancers until 1st June and reduced the price of full subscription for founders, CEOs and business leaders.

Deposit cheques at home with the Starling app

You can now deposit your cheques through the Starling app.

In these times, when many of us are trying to avoid going outside, leaving the house to post a cheque may be difficult.

The ability to deposit cheques via your mobile means one less reason you need to. And one more reason to manage your money with Starling, a bank that gives you financial control all from one app.

Chop, chat, chill with Chuku’s virtual supperclub

Throughout their childhood, big brother Emeka (é-meh-ka) and little sister Ifeyinwa (i-fay-in-wa) noticed the lack of Nigerian cuisine on the capital’s “foodie” map. Keen to share their heritage with schoolfriends as they got older, they patiently waited for that spot which would celebrate the flavours of their motherland and pay homage to the stories told by their grandmother. They set up the world’s first Nigerian tapas restaurant earlier this year, home of the chop, chat chill.

Whilst you can’t go to their new restaurant, they’re bringing the chop, chat, chill to you with a series of intimate digital dinners, connecting their Chuku’s community across the globe. Enjoy the shared laughter, their fave Naija beats and a chance to meet new people – all from your kitchen table.

Nook pods provide healthcare sector with a place to recharge

Bristol-based Furniture design business Do Company is offering to loan its comforting semi-private Nook pods free of charge to any healthcare sector premises in the UK in a bid to provide staff and visitors with a place to recharge and coordinate in comfort during the outbreak.

Entrepreneurs come together to support UK’s 5m self-employed

A team of self-isolating entrepreneurs from London’s burgeoning Fintech sector – built a proof of concept which aims to support the UKs 5m self-employed in the COVID-19 economic crisis. The idea allows a self-employed person to selfcertify and evidence their loss of income due to coronavirus through a web site.

Dinoski guide children through the crisis

Dinoski create a range of eco-friendly animal themed ski & winter wear.

To show support for the NHS, Dinoski reached out to their audience to create an uplifting video about what kids think about the current crisis: The Childrens Guide to Coronavirus.

Prior to that, to help parents keep children entertained at home they gave away 800 free activity books and have created free colouring sheets and character cut-outs for anybody that signs up to their newsletter.

Dinoski are now developing an animated story series, highlighting important environmental messages which they hope to launch later this summer.

Dress up at home to bag yourself a pair of Snag Tights

Snag Tights make tights that are genuinely different sizes, to fit comfortably women of all shapes. Normal tights vary in length, but not by width, which is why it can be such a struggle to find tights that actually fit. Snag Tights tights are genuinely different sizes, which means they vary in height, width and around the waist so they fit every body shape.

For all their Instagram followers, Snag Tights have launched a Dress Up Fridays competition where they are giving away a pair of tights each week to the most fabulous look posted by a Snaggler.

To say thank you to the amazing NHS staff, they are also giving away one pair of tights to an NHS frontline worker for every order they receive.

Snaffling Pig collabs with Double Dutch Drinks

Double Pig? Snaffling Dutch? GBEA winner, Snaffling Pig, has started shipping fellow GBEA category entrants, Double Dutch Drinks on behalf of Raissa de Haas and Joyce De Haas and their awesome team. From a little post Nick Coleman (owner) put up two weeks ago asking if any food/drinks brands needed help with storage, picking or packing, they are now working with five just frankly brilliant brands.

BrewDog have developed the ultimate shower beer to help people enjoy beer in a whole new way whilst staying at home. The guava and grapefruit deliver a fresh, fruity hit guaranteed to quench your thirst. This is a classic German-style pilsner with a twist, designed to be clean and refreshing. Just like your shower.

BrewDog launch Lock Down Lager, the ultimate shower beer

Charley Chau is a family-owned British business founded by two self-confessed crazy dog ladies, Christine and Jenny Chau).

They have set up a temporary “emergency supplies” section on their website to help their customers source basic essentials at this very tricky time. It’s not a comprehensive pet store, but a small collection of essential items to keep your dog well fed, amused and in good health through these challenging times.

Mr Lee’s Noodles fuels frontline workers

After being told he had a few weeks to live, this cancer survivor and noodle lover is now on a mission to help time-poor people eat better. Enter Mr Lee’s Noodles.

Damien is currently donating one cup of noodles to UK foodbanks and frontline staff for each box of noodles bought. He’s also offering 20% off these boxes, and free delivery.

“We’re giving an initial 1,000 cups of noodles separately to Poole Hospital, Royal Bournemouth Hospital. Royal Marsden Hospital Chelsea and the Royal Marsden Hospital Sutton. We’ll follow up with more and I estimate that the final number could be in the order of 10,000.

“I’m determined to do everything possible in recognition of their incredible efforts,” says Damien.

Grenade fuels NHS staff with dedicated care parcels

Currently, they are helping the efforts to succeed over Covid-19 by supporting NHS staff working tirelessly on the front line by fuelling them with Grenade care packages. They are also offering a 40% on their products for anyone with a blue light card.

Brewgooder gifts NHS staff packs of beer

Brewgooder’s focus has been diverted to the frontline efforts of the NHS. You can now gift a fourpack with a message of support for an NHS employee, to claim at random and receive when they are ready to. Every £6 donation will cover the cost incurred to brew, pack and deliver a fourpack of beer with your message included, to an NHS employee in the UK.