Meet the Enterprise Nation Fund finalists

We've set up our Enterprise Nation Fund to recognise small business owners whose work is driven by their values.

Under the competition, there will be three winners across three categories, selected based on Enterprise Nation's own values. Each winner will receive a £5,000 grant, mentoring with an expert entrepreneur and a bundle of business support prizes.

So far, over 4,500 people have applied to the fund and we've shortlisted 10 small businesses in each category.

A public vote will narrow the pool down to three finalists in each category. The mentors will then decide the winners based on the business for whom they feel they can add the most value.

Meet the finalists and cast your vote!

Community-led category

CARVE

Carve is a carefully curated platform of independent potters showcasing hard-to-find and eco-conscious products. Its goal is to support and provide visibility to the handmade community of emerging ceramic artisans across the UK, while offering their customers an array of unique and sustainable ceramic products. 

Give Your Best

An innovative peer-to-peer donation platform, allowing people to upload clothes to give away easily so that refugee women and children can shop online for free with choice and dignity.

Her Sport

Her Sport has a digital community of over 160,000 people who are passionate about creating cultural change for women in sports.

Hibi

Hibi supports families to manage, co-ordinate and navigate the care of children with additional needs. The company has built a digital platform alongside a community of over 300 families, care professionals and organisations.

I LIKE NETWORKING (ILN)

With over 35,000 members, including 700 mentored individuals, I LIKE NETWORKING addresses networking disparities in creative fields.

Listoke Distillery

Listoke Distillery & Gin School is unique in that it both distils gin and teaches people how to make the spirit. It employs locally and actively works with local charities.

The Land Collective

The Land Collective works with businesses across the real estate and wider built environment sector to deliver equal access to opportunity and education for young people from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds.

The WIP

A unique membership platform providing community support and learning resources for sustainable brand founders, entrepreneurs, eco-aware designers and side-hustlers.

Wakuda

It has curated a vibrant marketplace that empowers over 250 African and Caribbean entrepreneurs, enabling them to showcase their unique cultural products, fostering empowerment and representation.

Women in Tech & Cyber Hub (WiTCh)

A community interest company whose purpose is to support women reskilling and upskilling into tech. It provides networking, mentorship and resources to help women in the tech and cyber security communities.

Entrepreneurial category

Cool Crutches

In 2005, Amelia Peckham fell off a quad bike, suffered a spinal injury and became unable to walk overnight. She was given a pair of hospital crutches and the chance to learn to walk. The problem was that they gave her debilitating blisters, clicked, slipped and even snapped.

It was then she and her mum Clare spotted a gap in the market, and Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks was born. The company offers comfort, quality, silence and functionality, and doesn't compromise on style!

FORE

A multimedia lifestyle brand that seamlessly fuses fashion, art, music and culture. Focusing on community and creative collaboration, FORE creates informed works ranging from clothing and lifestyle products to music videos and live events.

Monthlies

Attempting to disrupt the organic period care industry in a way that gives consumers the ability to take control of both their waste and spending when it comes to the period products they use.

With its sustainable 100% organic cotton products, Monthlies is not only changing what you buy when it comes to period care, but how you buy it.

Oatsu

After discovering overnight oat recipes on TikTok, founder Lauren O'Donnell started prepping them as a convenient at-desk breakfast. She wanted to help the UK's 33 million working professionals start their day with a healthy, convenient breakfast, and become the UK's first dedicated overnight oat brand on retail shelves.

Philly & Friends

Philly & Friends was established to fill the void in the market by producing inclusive educational materials. Its storytelling ability engages young minds and creates narratives that resonate with them.

Pola

Isaac Tambini started Pola by purchasing an ice-cream cart off eBay, renovating it, and spending his summer days pushing it around his city centre, selling ice pops to passers-by.

On the first day, he sold about 12 ice pops but four years later has grown this business and now operates from commercial premises selling thousands of pops per week!

Shroot

Creating eco-friendly, biodegradable greeting cards that come with everything you need to grow microgreens, including the pot – just add water. It's a gift, card, experience and snack all in one.

Umutoni

Umutoni is a luxury brand changing the narrative that jewellery can be an agent of social change. Every piece is handmade with love by the best artisans from the heart of Kenya.

Yosanie

Yosanie provides an innovative solution to the UK's third largest entrepreneurial hurdle – ineffective marketing, a struggle for 41% of UK start-ups.

Leveraging cutting-edge technology, it's developed an AI digital marketing assistant that auto-generates social posts, leads and engagement activities such as comments and customer review responses.

Yuty

A Google-backed technology company revolutionising the beauty commerce experience and customer-brand relationships through hyper-personalisation.

Leveraging proprietary generative AI, Yuty empowers brands to deliver inclusive, hyper-personalised commerce experiences for their customers to drive loyalty and revenue growth.

Trusted category

Cheeky Nibble

Cheeky Nibble is on a mission to spread joy through truly delicious free-from snacks. The award-winning granola is free from the top 14 major allergens and made in a BRCAA facility, which is a peanut- and tree nut-free environment. Oh, and it's vegan-friendly too!

Gooseberry Fool

Working with and empowering women in marginalised communities to create heirloom organic baby clothing.

As a brand, it constantly strives to share knowledge and create awareness as to the effects of our actions on both people and the planet. Each item purchased gives back to the rural communities in India where the women live.

Hollywood Browzer Beauty

An award-winning beauty brand specialising in dermaplaning, a form of facial exfoliation that leaves the skin smooth, fresh and radiant.

KIND2

High-performing solid shampoo and conditioner, reinvented for the 21st century. Its formulas are palm-free, vegan and free from plastic, soap, synthetic fragrances and synthetic colours.

Mr Desserts

A microbakery in London and Essex. By focusing on delivering the highest-quality products and services, founder Moyin Odeniran has been able to gain the trust of his customers and build a loyal customer base.

The PCOS Collective

An education hub for people with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who are fed up with the regular advice they hear from doctors. It aims to provide evidence-based, free-to-access information for people with PCOS – information they can trust.

Piotis Naturals

A PhD biologist, Dr Evanthia Samota, creates natural cosmetics with sustainable ingredients and eco-friendly packaging.

SuperLooper

There are 183 million items of outgrown baby clothes stored away and forgotten in UK cupboards. SuperLooper provides a service for parents to keep those clothes in circulation longer.

THEENK TEA

A 21-day programme, designed by an experienced herbalist, of a carefully selected blend of powerful herbs to help you tackle your daily challenges – one teabag at a time.

By combining some of the favourite herbal ingredients of Ayurvedic medicine, THEENK is designed to fit perfectly into your busy 21st-century lifestyle.

Tide + Seek

Tide + Seek believes sustainability is a lifestyle. It strives to make ethical, responsible and conscious choices every day which help protect and preserve what it is passionate about. That is definitely the case when it comes to swimwear.