Lottie Hawkins Named Winner of Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year 2022.
Devon-based Lottie Hawkins has been recognised as one of this year’s most exceptional business leaders at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2022 Grand Final.
Lottie, founder of Earthly Biochar, won Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year with Earthly Biochar’s carbon-storing soil conditioner and their smokeless kiln that produces biochar by burning garden waste without releasing any smoke.
With plans to scale biochar production in the UK, Earthly Biochar (founded in 2018) is turning waste biomass into biochar. In the process of creating the biochar, carbon which otherwise would have been released into the atmosphere is captured and stored. When applied to soils, biochar can improve soil health, crop yields, and resource efficiency. Earthly Biochar uses ‘waste’ resources to make this affordable, effective soil conditioner, which also helps mitigate climate change. Following the success of Earthly’s biochar, the innovative company went on to develop a biochar kiln for gardeners to make biochar at home.
The programme, in partnership with Starling Bank, has recognised the UK’s most inspiring entrepreneurial success stories for a decade and developed a community-oriented network of alumni which grows year on year.
The ceremony was held at Grosvenor House in London and saw 1,400 entrepreneurs and colleagues join together to celebrate a collective £2 billion generated in turnover and over 17,000 jobs.
Lottie is among 12 South West entrepreneurs who went home with prizes in categories from Health & Beauty and Sustainability to Family Business and the overall Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which was won by Jordan Brompton of myenergi Ltd.
Lottie commented: “Receiving this award has been the highlight of our year at Earthly, the whole team are absolutely over the moon. We founded Earthly with the goal of providing truly sustainable products that people can use at home. They double up as a form of carbon capture and storage, and this helps make saving the planet accessible for everyone. It’s great that all our hard work has paid off and that more and more people will discover the benefits of biochar and our kilns.”
Over the past ten years, there have been a number of big names to receive accolades, including Alan and Juliet Barratt of Grenade, Shaun Pulfrey of Tangle Teezer and Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett. Many previous winners have gone on to sit on the expert judging panel for the 2022 programme.
The tenth anniversary awards also included a brand-new category - the John Caudwell Blaze Your Own Trail Award recognises organisations and individuals providing non-traditional routes into employment through apprenticeships, on-job training and work experience placements. The award was added as part of a new partnership between the programme and the Phones4U founder’s charity Caudwell Children.
Great British Entrepreneur Awards founder Francesca James said that the awards’ tenth anniversary was the biggest and best yet: “Celebrating Britain’s ambitious, driven and inspirational entrepreneurs for a decade has been an honour, and we’ve learnt so much from hearing all of their unique stories and perspectives.
“The extraordinary circumstances of the last few years have tested the resilience of our business communities, and the challenges were enough to give many entrepreneurs an excuse to give up. Instead, our award winners did the opposite and, through ingenuity, innovation and the ability to adapt, they thrived.
“These challenges certainly haven’t gone away, and the next few years will present new obstacles to overcome - but one only needed to look around the room at our tenth anniversary to see some of the truly special founders and doers, to gain confidence that this snapshot of the economy can go on and adapt again.
“We’d like to congratulate all of our 2022 winners for all of their hard work and achievements - we look forward to following your lead into 2023 and beyond!”
Anne Boden MBE, Founder of Starling Bank, headline partner of the Awards, said: “Entrepreneurs up and down the country across so many different industries have shown just how innovative and resilient they have been in these uncertain times. The awards are a celebration of their success - congratulations to all winners.”
To find out more about the awards and to see the full list of winners, visit greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com.