Meet the Soldering On Awards Finalists: Business of the Year – Community Impact Award – Sponsored by Cisco

Business of the Year – Community Impact Award

The Business of the Year Community Impact category is in recognition of a business that was started up by an individual from the Armed Forces community and has made a real impact to the wider Armed Forces Community.

The chosen finalists for the 2019 Business of the Year – Community Impact Award category are:

• Remembered: Rowley Gregg MC and Henny Cochrane
• Services to Film
• Sinah Common Honey
• Taylored Games
• The Afghan Rug Shop Ltd

The Business of the Year – Community Impact Award 2019 is sponsored by X-Forces Enterprise corporate partners Cisco.

“Cisco are proud to be associated with the Soldiering On Awards, X-Forces Enterprise and the British Armed Forces. It is humbling to be involved with this wonderful event and all of the finalists have our total admiration.” Paul Garvey, Head of Government & National Security, Cisco

Meet the finalists

Remembered: Rowley Gregg MC and Henny Cochrane

Remembered are a dynamic new charity who fundraise for those in need in the military community and share these funds with other military charities. They educate younger generations on the sacrifices made by the Armed Forces. Remembered delivered the ‘There But Not There’ campaign in remembrance of 100 years since the end of World War One, providing retail and grant assisted access to life sized silhouettes which represent the fallen, so they can be remembered by communities. Since its launch in Feb 2018, the charity has turned over £3.4m and their education programme has been experienced in over 24,000 schools and over 450 town councils. To find out more see: www.therebutnotthere.com

Services to Film

Services to Film provides work opportunities for veterans within the film industry. With a unique understanding of the challenging nature of finding work in Civvy street, the business has supported over 3000 Veterans through placements in TV and film and have recently partnered with Walking With the Wounded to develop a second career employment programme to provide more long-term employment opportunities. To see more see: www.servicestofilm.com

Sinah Common Honey

Sinah Common Honey was set up by John Geden who overcame various personal challenges to begin a business which allowed him to protect his physical and mental health. Sinah Common Honey began as a honey producing business, supplying raw honey to local farmers’ markets, health food shops and food festivals. Keen to share the benefits of entrepreneurship which John experienced himself through the business, he introduced beekeeping as part of the Help for Heroes recovery programme and has donated his time, equipment and bees to make the course a success for other veterans. John is also about to launch a honey based cosmetic product, profits from which will be donated to Help for Heroes and other military charities. To find out more see: www.sinahcommonhoney.com

Taylored Games Ltd

Taylored Games are a games shop at the heart of their community in Kingsbridge, providing a fun, safe and engaging space for local community members to gather and play traditional table-top games like Monopoly. The shop opened last Easter and have since built a regular and loyal customer base, as well as being enjoyed by tourists to the town. The concept has been so successful they are seeking to begin a community interest company to provide this opportunity to schools so the benefits of traditional gaming and teamwork can be experienced by all.  To find out more see: www.tayloredgames.com

The Afghan Rug Shop Ltd

The Afghan Rug Shop was founded by James Wilthew who served in Afghanistan in 2004 where he became familiar with the locals and business owners. He knew all too well the difficulties these businesses would face especially without legitimate trading opportunities. James formed a special relationship with one trader who he then contacted upon his return to England and decided to set up a legitimate export route for his unique handmade Afghan Rugs. James now operates his own shop and sells these beautiful rugs online alongside a range of other handmade kilim furniture, scarves, blankets and other special items of the highest quality. Not only has the business made a strong profit, but it is the only UK retailer accredited with a Label-STEP licence for fair trade rugs, ensuring the Afghan rug makers are also well-looked after. To find out more see: www.theafghanrugshop.co.uk

“The Business of the Year Community Impact Award is particularly special as it recognises those businesses who not only have built successful businesses from an economic perspective but more importantly, have been able to serve a social purpose and have given something back to their community. A tremendous achievement and an inspiration and reminder to us all that the ability to ‘give back’ is something we should all seek to incorporate into our entrepreneurial efforts.” Ren Kapur MBE, Founder & CEO X-Forces Enterprise

 All the finalists will be hosted at a special reception where they will be given the opportunity to network amongst each other and meet our judges and partners, including representatives from Cisco. For more updates on the Soldering On Awards, see: https://soldieringon.org