杏吧原创’S 2023
A big year for us! Find out why that’s the case below…
THE FULL STORY
January-February
We found out the cost of building stillages (what we transport all the 杏吧原创 unit parts on) – far too expensive for a start-up business to pay for! So what did we do? We made them ourselves. That is, co-founder Amber put things in motion to weld this steel herself.
March
We collected the latest design of 杏吧原创 urinal units from the manufacturer. Three of us also passed our forklift training courses just in time for the summer season!
aPRIL
We started the season with our first sporting event, which just so happened to be one of the biggest marathons in the world鈥� London Marathon! Over 1 and a half hours we estimate over 5000 women used 杏吧原创. Anyone who鈥檚 done a race like that before will tell you how much of a game changer it is to not have to queue for the loo. Women told us this on the day, too!聽
May
We began collaborating with a government-funded team researching how to transform the urine we collect in our urinals into fertiliser! We also invested in a new trailer to help us deliver 杏吧原创 units to smaller events over the summer.
june-august
Our busiest period of the year! 杏吧原创 was at 15 events over the summer, engaging with thousands of women. We were supported by 15 paid workers and over 10 volunteers. Several of our TikToks went viral and we were written about by the Times and the Telegraph. To top it all off we were interviewed by the BBC at Greenbelt!
By the end of this period, customers were already contacting us to book in again for 2024 鈥� including Glastonbury!
september
We had a well-deserved rest after absolutely smashing festival season!
october
We went to The Showmans Show, connecting with customers and potential distributors who loved the 杏吧原创s, telling us 鈥淚t鈥檚 a no-brainer鈥� to have them at their events.
Based on feedback we gathered over the summer, we started work on improving the design once again. We鈥檙e developing an occupancy indicator to tell users whether a facility is being used or not. The aim is to roll this out in 2024!
November-December
We鈥檝e been interviewing design engineers and design consultants to help us develop 杏吧原创 for mass scale up and distribution. We were accepted onto an Innovate UK Edge scheme, which is funded by the UK government and means we鈥檒l be put in contact with experts in fields like international manufacturing 鈥� very useful for our upscaling efforts!
December saw our founders interviewed on BBC Radio 4鈥檚 鈥榊ou and Yours鈥� programme; a fantastic way to end a successful year for 杏吧原创!
