Grant winners 2017-19

2018 grant winners 

Included within the group of 2018 World of Opportunity Programme grant winners were outstanding companies that support refugee learning programmes, gourmet crisp producers and a family run cycling business.

Some of the winners included:

• NEMI Tea – A London-based tea company that makes biodegradable tea pyramids and employs refugees to sell these products enabling them to learn English and gain experience before entering the job market. The company plans to use the grant to attend trade shows in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
• MamaBabyBliss – A Hertfordshire-based business that offers parent and baby classes, workshops, yoga inspired workouts, pregnancy massage treatments and produces multi-award-winning vegan baby products. MamaBabyBliss is looking to showcase their services and products at the ‘Best of British’ Trade Show in Shanghai this year.
• Pearson Cycles – A Richmond-based family business established in 1860. The business sells bikes, clothing and accessories and plans to move into markets which are receptive to genuine British heritage companies, such as Taiwan, by attending the Taipei Cycle Show.
• Premier Packaging Solutions – A Northern Ireland-based business that manufactures luxury packaging which is an eco-friendly alternative to plastic packaging. Premier Packaging Solutions currently exports to Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Ireland and the States and is looking to break into the Canadian market.
• Reza Wood Designs – A Scottish business that recycles whisky barrels from local distilleries and transforms them into one of a kind handcrafted gifts for Scotch whisky lovers around the world. Reza Wood Designs is planning to use their grant to enter the Japanese market.
• Savoursmiths – A Duxford-based business that produces gourmet crisps, cut from home-grown local potatoes grown on a family farm, before being batch cooked by hand. This brand is working to become a global business and begin trading in the Middle East and Asia.

In our first ever round of World of Opportunity Programme Grants we had over 200 applicants from businesses across the UK and from a wide variety of industries. Working in partnership with the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) ‘Exporting is GREAT’ Campaign, the SMEs all received £2000 each to fund trade missions or to research global markets of their choice.

Some of the successful SMEs in the 2018 World of Opportunity Programme included:

• Little Ondine, a London-based company looking to export its toxin-free, odourless, peel-off nail polish to Dubai.
• Northern Ireland’s Glastry Farm Ice Cream which, having been tried and tested by the Prince of Wales, will look for consumers in the hot temperatures of the United Arab Emirates.
• Airboss, which wants to export its unique puncture-proof tyres from its base in Cheltenham to the United States.