Export Business of the Year 2018: Meet the finalists

Yurts for Life

Combining wellness, artisan craftsmanship, entrepreneurialism and high-quality, Yurts for Life makes traditional Kyrgyz-style nomadic Yurts in the UK. As well as manufacturing, maintenance, and events hire, the company provides initial ground-works, site consultation and business advice. It’s on a mission to get more people outside and enjoying the great outdoors. The company is already exporting to Norway and has new business in Finland and Sicily lined up.

Learn more about Yurts for Life and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Issoria

Founded in 2016 and already exporting to over 30 countries around the world, Issoria is the start-up disrupting the change management consulting industry. Its model connects over 6,000 independent consultants worldwide to provide the scale of a major consulting firm, whilst retaining the speed, agility and low-cost base of a smaller business. It has opted for a fairer stakeholder economy model rather than a gig model.

Learn more about Issoria and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Trint

Ever had to transcribe audio? It can be extremely tedious. Trint claims to be the first automated transcription service to combine a text editor and an audio/video player into one simple tool. This makes it possible to search recorded content using keywords, verify by listening to just a portion of it and edit a transcript in minutes. It recently opened an office in Toronto to scale aggressively in North America.

Learn more about Trint and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Mr Lee’s Noodles

Founded by two-time cancer survivor Damien Lee, Mr Lee’s Noodles is the healthy, gluten-free instant noodle brand that claims to be the lowest in salt, sugar, saturated fats and calories on the market. With over 100 billion “nasty” instant noodles sold each year, that it claims contribute to diseases and long-term conditions, Mr Lee’s is helping consumers in the UK , Malta, Asia, Scandinavia, and Australia, live better through a more healthy, wholesome diet.

Learn more about Mr Lee’s Noodles and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Prima Makeup

Prima Makeup is the cosmetic brand founded by Emma Southorn after a near-fatal spell in hospital caused her to rethink her job and aspirations. She founded Prima to solve the problem of messy glitter application and is already shipping to 19 countries. All its specially formulated pressed glitter products – including its signature Unicorn Poop glitter adhesive – are vegan friendly and PETA registered cruelty-free.

Learn more about Prima Makeup and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Optiat

Did you know the UK sends 500,000 tonnes of coffee grounds to landfill each year? What if there was a way for the UK’s coffee industry to reuse it instead. Well, now there is. Founded by William and Anna Brightman, Optiat is the UK-made skincare brand that makes use of this organic, natural and recyclable material with a range of coffee ground-based skincare products. Optiat is stocked in independents across the UK and eight European countries.

Learn more about Optiat and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Fancy Dress Worldwide

Offering in excess of 20,000 products, this online fancy dress retailer has found tremendous global success, fulfilling over 380,000 orders across 85 countries over the last two years. How has it done it? The company uses bespoke software solutions to streamline processes, manage stock levels and support its customer service. Now, having closed an oversubscribed £278,000 crowdfunded campaign it will improve its operations for further global dominance.

Learn more about Fancy Dress Worldwide and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Phelps Innovations

Founded by sisters Catherine Dodd and Rosie Phelps-Goggin (a former RAF intelligence officer), Phelps Innovations owns Doddl, the brand that’s redesigning children’s cutlery to help them eat independently. It’s been endorsed by child healthcare experts including NHS occupational therapists, nutritionists and child development specialists. Doddl now has three product lines, which it ships to 30 countries, and is set to launch a brand new product in early 2019.

Learn more about Phelps Innovations and cast your People’s Champion vote here