An innovative way to get the gardens of Worcestershire blooming has won the WINN ‘Make It Happen Challenge’. Border In A Box was announced as the winner of the £12,000 prize at the recent WINN Wednesday Event.
Developed by local entrepreneur Nikki Hollier, Border In A Box is a ready-made garden kit. It provides a template for a garden border, illustrating which plant goes where and a shopping list of what to get from the local garden centre. To ensure swift results, two packets of seeds are also included to ensure that there is plenty of colour in the first year whist the main plants mature.
Nikki Hollier, founder of Border In A Box, said: “This win is amazing, and I’m absolutely delighted! it will help my business so much this year especially with my show garden border at Gardeners’ World Live in June, which will showcase my business and how I can help anyone create their own gorgeous garden”
“It will also help me with product development and I’m really looking forward to engaging with the sponsors as I know they will be able to fill my knowledge gaps!”
Every Border In A Box design includes plants which look pretty together, and contains plants for year round interest. No more wondering what plant goes where, how to take care of the garden as all plants are easy to take care of. Each kit is designed to help people with zero horticultural knowledge achieve a gorgeous garden on a budget.
The Make It Happen challenge organised by WINN – a Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire LEP initiative which has formed a collaboration of the region’s best innovators with a mission to advance ideas and entrepreneurs – was launched specifically to help innovative business develop their products or services.
Jessica Antley, Programme Manager for WINN stated “I’m so pleased that Border In A Box has been our first Make It Happen Winner. It really encompasses innovation by solving a problem that so many of us have. I sincerely hope that this prize will assist Nikki and her team at Border In A Box expand their business and assist with the generation of the success they truly deserve”
The £12,000 prize is made up of a £5,000 cash reward, together with packages from the Make It Happen sponsors totaling £1,000 each.
The sponsors themselves, all Worcestershire Businesses, will donate the time and services to help Border In A Box develop. This years sponsors were: Brand Refinery, Charles Lovell & Co, Jim Clark Advisory, Mercian Events, Scattermedia, SME Solicitors, and Terry Livesey Photography.
There were also prizes for Highly commended runners-up who will be invited to a series of workshops organised by WINN which are specially designed to give business owners the tools and techniques to get their ideas off the ground.
Councillor Ken Pollock, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy and Infrastructure, said: “The ‘Make It Happen Challenge’ run by WINN has been a fantastic success. Border In A Box is a worthy winner and alongside the highly commended entrants shows the incredible diversity of and passion for innovation across all of Worcestershire’s business sectors.
“These businesses and individuals are one of the main reasons why Worcestershire has one of the fastest growing economies in the country.”
The regular business networking event ‘WINN Wednesday’ is a free event, open to businesses of all sizes, that encourages all to openly discuss all aspects of business, social and cultural innovation.
The upbeat event is punctuated with engaging and motivational business speakers sharing their insights and thoughts. In previous events the attendees have heard from notable local companies such as PCA Predict, QinetiQ, The Malvern Festival Of Innovation, Green Gorilla Apps, The University Of Worcester, GTech, Scattermedia, Magic Whiteboard Limited, Maggs Day Centre and many more.
Gary Woodman, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “It was great to see so many businesses in attendance for the latest WINN Wednesday event. These free-to-attend events play a vital role in shaping the support for innovation in the County and boosting business productivity”
Pictured: Nikki Hollier, founder of Border in a Box, winner of WINN ‘Make It Happen Challenge’