“We create reusable water bottles from plant-based materials. We’re also a social enterprise, which means that for every S’wheat bottle we sell, we plant a trackable, native tree in the customer’s name. We sell direct to the consumer on our website, and through corporate branding programmes to other businesses.”

“My co-founder and partner, Jake Elliott-Hook, and I started S’wheat when we were studying. We saw the amount of single-use plastic bottles that were being used by students and knew there had to be another solution. We saw a gap in the market for a sustainable, reusable bottle that was really well designed, worked in the circular economy and would give back to the environment too.”

“I usually check the calendar so that I know all the meetings coming up that day. Then I try to make a list of tasks for everyone to get through, including myself. There’s a technique called the Pomodoro Technique, where you list your priorities then work for 25 minutes straight, without distractions. Then you take a five-minute break. You continue to do that until all the tasks are done. It’s something I’ve used since I was at college, and I think it’s really useful.”

“In the morning, I'll have a quick meeting over coffee with Jake where we’ll chat about what we want to prioritise that day. We always try to go to the gym at the beginning of the day too. We’ll be in the office before the rest of our colleagues come in, then we work together on different tasks. My job is to oversee the team, which I love because I get to do a little bit of everything. When we finish up at the end of the day we just try to relax and get ready for the next day.” 

“It’s normally very busy for us on Mondays and for me it’s more interesting when there’s more to do, so that stops any Monday blues setting in. Also, I view Monday as being about getting prepared for the rest of the week and taking extra time to just make sure everyone knows what their goals are.”

You were one of the winners of our Go Beyond competition partnership with Meta. Part of the prize included access to a Digital Boost Small Business Boot Camp. 

“I learned to make time to work on the business, rather than actually being in the business. It’s a fine line, but when you take a step back to review what strategies you’ve been employing and the state of your financials, you can definitely see the difference. Having people inspire me to do jobs that I’d otherwise probably put off has been really useful.”

“Consistency is key, and nothing happens overnight. Social media can sometimes portray everyone as getting lucky and achieving things overnight. I definitely struggled with thinking that things should come quicker and easier. But now I’ve realised that’s just not the case and you have to stay on track with your vision, and keep working on it every day until success comes.”

“I’m looking forward to what else we’ll learn on the boot camp. I’m also really excited to launch our Facebook Ads campaign, with the help of Meta and NatWest. We’ve actually been out of stock for a while due to the popularity of our bottles, and our restock lines up perfectly with the new ad campaign. We’re really excited to let more people know about the product and increase our social impact.”