The Winners
From our High Street Shop Award Winner to our Female Founder champion, the Independent Awards 2022 represent best-in-class examples of UK small businesses. Both the public and our expert Judges recognised the tenacity, talent and innovation of these shining examples from this incredible community.
Winners will each receive £10,000 and Runners-Up £5,000 for their business — thanks to our small business supporters Dell Technologies, Royal Mail, Adobe Express and Avon — and we’ll be following their journeys over the coming year.
Cook School
Cook School is a not-for-profit organisation teaching children and students nationwide about food and how to cook meat-free meals, giving them the skills and confidence to repeat-cook, promoting a healthy lifestyle and planet.
The prize money has given them the opportunity to teach thousands more children across the UK, by going into more schools, sending out more recipe kits and widening their reach.
They’ve made a clear impact, can work at scale and good is baked into their operating model. Excellent!
Natalie Campbell, CEO of Belu Water
Rosanna Morris
Rosanna Morris is a printmaker specialising in beautiful, hand-carved prints that explore themes of horticulture and the natural world. She carves Lino and wood blocks, then prints them by hand onto beautiful natural papers.
Winning this award means Rosanna can employ an assistant so that she can focus on the things that only she can do and take her business to the next level.
I just love Rosanna’s prints but I also love how she is a real master of her craft, even travelling to Mexico to perfect her technique. Thank goodness she teaches and facilitates community led projects to pass on her skills and knowledge to others.
Holly Tucker, Founder of Holly & Co
Revere the Residence
Revere the Residence is a homeware and lifestyle social enterprise shop sharing products made by local independent makers plus creations made in-house by people with learning disabilities. Since they opened, founder Kate has employed over 50 people, helping to level the playing field.
Kate says their prize money will be invested into the Revere in-house design team, to give more employment opportunities for young people with learning disabilities. They will also create more workshops, employ local artists and set up pop-up neurodiversity art markets.
We loved everything about this business; its purpose, its products and the good that it does. I kept forgetting I was judging and just wanted to shop and buy all the things! I wish there were more businesses like this around the country.
Charlotte Khan, Founder of Moo Like A Monkey
Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine believes people with learning disabilities and autism deserve to live life to the full. People visit because of the quality of the coffee and food but leave with a different perception of ‘disability’.
The prize money means they can support a new trainee for a whole year.
Yellow Submarine makes me feel proud of how the world really is changing in positive ways – contrary to what newspaper headlines might lead us to feel. I truly wish I lived closer, because I’d be getting my coffee there EVERY DAY.
Jo Fairley, Founder of Green & Black
Black Girl Knit Club
Founded in early 2019 by Sicgmone and Vea, Black Girl Knit Club was born to create a safe and inclusive space for Black women creatives and to promote diversity within the craft community. Since launching, they have built a 600+ strong community through their monthly workshops and online tutorials.
Sicgmone and Vea plan on using their prize money to develop the ecommerce side of their business — so do keep your eyes peeled for new products coming soon!
Having just read Michelle Obama’s new book about her journey with knitting, and remembering my own tutoring as a child, I can see the potential of the network they are building. It is commercially viable at scale.
Natalie Campbell, Founder of Belu Water
The Edible Museum
The Edible Museum was created when founder Sarah pivoted her career in sculpture towards food. The result is a magical confectionery shop full of realistic animals, fossils, and anatomy — all hand crafted from quality chocolate — to be gifted and shared worldwide.
Sarah will use her winnings to create an even more magical experience for her customers, including an updated website and packaging redesign.
Founders like Sarah are so utterly inspiring for giving more people in their fifties and sixties the confidence to go on and achieve their dreams. She’s a shining example of how it’s not just possible to pivot, but how it can really pay to follow your heart and do what you love.
Holly Tucker, Founder of Holly & Co
Cult of Youth
Cult of Youth was born with the tagline ‘jewels to keep your loved ones close’ and it was helping others to celebrate their families, that allowed founder Kelly to support her own. All pieces from their made-to-order range are produced in London using recycled materials where possible.
Kelly is investing her prize money into ‘levelling up’ her business, from photography and branding, to holding stock.
I am not surprised the public voted Cult of Youth as their no.1. Founder Kelly somehow manages to capture the most beautiful feelings of love and motherhood in original, beautifully made jewellery.
Holly Tucker, Founder of Holly & Co
Myro Doodles
Myro Doodles is a Mancunian-Ukrainian artist whose bespoke, hand drawn creations inject heart, soul and commercial impact into the windows and walls of independent retailers, schools and hospitals, up and down the country.
Founder Myro is using the prize money to scale up her business by developing a range of products inspired by her hand-drawn illustrations that can be shipped worldwide.
It makes me so happy that other people appreciate Myro’s incredible talent as much as I do. It just goes to show what can be achieved with nothing but pens, paper and a lot of hard work! This is so well deserved.
Holly Tucker, Founder of Holly & Co
With thanks to our Award Supporters
These awards would not be possible without our incredible small business supporters who truly believe in the power of small.
