Member Article

Ethical underwear maker named Social Entrepreneur of the Year

Ethical underwear entrepreneur, Becky John, of Who Made Your Pants?, has today been announced the winner of the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014.

Becky was named the winner of a public vote from a shortlist of five finalists, who came from a broad range of entrepreneurial backgrounds – from a specialist online job board run by disabled people for disabled people to an enterprise delivering sport and health programmes within schools and community learning groups. All five are about to graduate from the 2013/14 cohort of the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme, which is run in partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs with support from the Big Lottery Fund.

The Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award is now in its second year, and has seen a 13% increase in votes cast. A second place prize of £6,000 was awarded to West Midlands-based Jane Hatton of Evenbreak, which provides a specialist online job board run by disabled people for disabled people, promoting the benefits of a diverse workforce to employers. Third place prize of £4,000 was won by Shaun Fox of West Yorkshire-based Legacy Sport, a community-focussed enterprise delivering sport and health programmes to promote healthy lifestyle habits.

Real women, real jobs

Becky set up Who Made Your Pants? in 2008, based on an idea she formed two years earlier. There were three core drivers behind the idea: Becky “really likes pants”; she doesn’t like wearing clothes made in sweatshop conditions; and, she knew that women who are refugees are alone for the majority of their day, which can lead to personal and social problems such as depression or economic inactivity.

Who Made Your Pants? has delivered employability training to more than 65 women from its factory in Southampton and has a waiting list of a further 75 women who want work. The socially-conscious business teaches these women the skill required to make quality, saleable products, which retail predominantly through the business’ dedicated website at: www.whomadeyourpants.co.uk.

Becky plans to use the £10,000 Social Entrepreneur of the Year award to increase the employment hours of her Office Manager and Production Supervisor; which will, in turn, allow her to increase production, sales and create further employment opportunities within the company.

On winning the award Becky said: “I am thrilled to win the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award. It is a truly fantastic achievement. It will allow us to further expand Who Made Your Pants?, and create event more employment opportunities as we increase production.”

“Being part of the School for Social Entrepreneurs programme has helped me focus on developing Who Made Your Pants?. I am incredibly fortunate to have learned from the fantastic team at SSE and working with other social entrepreneurs and my tutor has been amazing. The business has expanded so much since I embarked on the programme last year. To have reached this stage so quickly shows how much the programme has to offer Social Entrepreneurs.”

Graham Lindsay, Director, Responsible Business & Community Affairs at Lloyds Banking Group said “I offer my personal congratulations to Becky on being named the 2014 Social Entrepreneur of the Year. All five finalists for the award this year demonstrated their commitment to making a positive impact to society by bringing tangible benefits to communities, individuals and the environment.”

“The Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme is at the heart of our commitment to helping Britain prosper. In the second year of the programme we’re proud to not only recognise the winner of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award with a £10,000 prize, but also reward the achievement of Jane Hatton, of Evenbreak and Shaun Fox, of Legacy Sport, our second and third placed finalists, who receive £6,000 and £4,000 awards respectively, helping them continue to ‘Scale Up’ their businesses.”

Alastair Wilson, CEO of the School for Social Entrepreneurs, said: “It has been captivating to watch Becky ‘Scale Up’ Who Made Your Pants? over the last 12 months. We are incredibly pleased that she has been further rewarded by being named 2014 Social Entrepreneur of the Year in recognition of her passion, commitment and effort. We look forward to seeing how the £10,000 prize will help support her business and keep it growing.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Cara J. Stewart .