We’re always delighted to be able to share our Soldiering On Award Winners’ success stories, so this is a double honour.
One of the X-Forces Enterprise 3:6:12 programme’s aims is to connect like-minded people or businesses, or make introductions that can benefit them moving forward.
Who have we connected?
We introduced two Soldiering On Award Winners to each other with a view to helping promote a new product to further help other Veterans. These Winners are Dr Aamer Khan of the Harley Street Skin Clinic, and John Geden of Sinah Common Honey.
Sinah Common Honey – and its offshoot business, WiSP Care Products
Sinah Common Honey was our 2019 Soldiering On Award “Business of the Year Community Impact Award.” Its founder, John Geden, is a Veteran who had served in the British Army as a commissioned officer in Royal Military Police before becoming a civilian Detective Chief Inspector. John took early retirement in 2014 having been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and has since launched his successful honey business.
Being entrepreneurial, John has diversified from edible honey to honey skin balm products. This development has little to do with beauty though, and everything to do with helping fellow Veterans.
From meeting injured Veterans at a Help For Heroes recovery centre, John realised that many people who suffer discomfort from wearing prosthetic limbs could be relieved with a mixture of beeswax, honey and propolis (described as one of nature’s most effective defence systems). So he went away and developed his 100% natural skin balm, aimed at alleviating soreness and accelerating cell growth.
John teamed up with his business partner Debbie Mulkern, an aromatherapist and natural perfumier, to combine their knowledge and enthusiasm to help charitable causes. Supported by X-Forces Enterprise, they formed WiSP Care Products, placing social responsibility at its heart and building the business around making profits for charity.
If you’re wondering what wisp has to do with honey, WiSP is actually an acronym for Wounded, Injured and Sick Personnel. You can read more about the company and its products here.
Dr Khan’s Charity: Back on Track
Dr Aamer Khan was awarded the Healthcare and Rehab Award in 2018 for his services to military Veterans who’d suffered life changing injuries – in particular, horrific burns. Being a specialist plastic surgeon, Dr Khan generously began treating soldiers for facial disfigurement, free of charge. To continue his support of the military forces, Dr Khan and his wife Lesley Reynolds set up Back on Track, a charity that supports these wounded heroes in three main ways:
- It funds the surgery needed to help people following severe burns. (This surgery is often not available on the NHS.)
- It allows wounded Veterans to have fun and raise their self-esteem by karting, a pastime many feared they would no longer be able to do due to their wounds. This frequently includes the use of specially adapted clothing for burns survivors.)
- It enables Veterans suffering from PTSD to access counselling and other support services.
So why did we introduce John to Dr Khan?
There are several synergies here…
- Dr Khan and John Geden are both focused on helping wounded Veterans with their recovery.
- John’s balm soothes and helps to heal damaged skin – not just for wounded servicemen and women, but for everyone – and Dr Khan specialises in treating people with damaged skin in his clinic: The Harley Street Skin Clinic.
- Dr Khan supports Veterans suffering from PTSD, and John retired as a result of suffering from this stress disorder. Dr Khan has kindly helped to promote Wisp Care products through his blog to support the new business; this blog is read by his celebrity patients and a wide online audience.
If you’d like to try WiSP skin balm for yourself, it’s available from Amazon!
Inspired by this story?
If you’d like to meet some inspirational Soldiering On Award Winners, join us for the spectacular 2020 Soldiering On Awards gala dinner and ceremony on April 24th. Click here for tickets and info.
X-Forces Enterprise provides support to businesses linked to the military community. If you know of a worthy organisation that could benefit from some extra guidance, please get in touch.
