6. The Cheeky Panda Company

Founders: Chris Forbes and Julie Chen
Founded: 2016
Website: cheekypanda.com

With a passion for the environment and a heavy social conscience, The Cheeky Panda Founders, Chris Forbes and Julie Chen, wanted to find a way to make one of the world’s most-used products more world-friendly.

Recognising the fast-growing properties of bamboo, The Cheeky Panda Company was born, and its ultra sustainable 100% bamboo toilet paper was created. The product hit the market with great success, and even made position 48 in the Startups 100 2018 – just two years after The Cheeky Panda Company was born.

Over the last four years, Forbes and Chen have developed a range of 15 bamboo products, including toilet roll, kitchen towels, wipes, and professional hand towels – and they’ve saved over 120,000 trees in the process.

The Cheeky Panda Company has wiped the floor when it comes to interest from retailers, securing partnerships from the likes of Tesco, Boots, Morrisons, and WHSmith. Its professional range has also secured them partnerships with janitorial distributors PHS and Lyreco.

Forbes and Chen have big aspirations for the future, as they seek to become one of the first pure play green companies to list on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. But their passion for the environment is always at the forefront, as they edge towards their company goal of saving 200,000 trees.