Sustainable Cornish Essence Products Win Award

Seven budding entrepreneurs from Cornwall are on a business journey to national recognition after their ethically sourced range of candles were awarded Best Overall Business at a local young enterprise trade fair.

Locally and ethically handmade, the products consist of a vegan-friendly wax sourced from a mixture of recycled vegetable and mineral oils and have been branded by the BA (Hons) Business, Leadership and Enterprise students at Truro and Penwith College to reflect the company values.

Launching their new product at the young enterprise spring trade fair at the Eden Project, Cornish Essence sold units to the public for just five pounds each, almost clearing their stock on the day and impressing the judges with their business capabilities.

Maxine Tregenza, the company’s Managing Director, was pleased with the success at the fair: “The new product development still represents our values of capturing the essence of Cornwall through sight and smell and we wanted to show that our business is expandable, so the trade fair was a great place to test out the market,” she said.

Introduced with two signature scents, the candles are available to buy in ‘cream tea’, which is a blend of fresh succulent strawberries and rich clotted cream and ‘fudge’, which represents a tempting sweet Cornish fudge with hints of chocolate and caramel.

Awarded Best Overall Business for the degree-level category at the fair, Cornish Essence has now secured their place in the young enterprise start-up national finals as well as being nominated to receive an award at the Cornwall Business Innovation awards.

Marcus Greaves, Corporate Social Responsibility Director, is passionate about delivering sustainable products to reduce the effect of the environment and social wellbeing. He said: “It is my duty to guide the company through an environmentally friendly path of production and to ensure good ethical practices are maintained to allow Cornish Essence to run sustainably.”

Gemma Bevan, Module Leader for the BA (Hons) Business, Leadership and Enterprise course, said: “It’s just phenomenal the level of success that the students have achieved in such a short period of 6 months. Starting out with very few of them knowing each other, with little experience and no budget and studying on a brand new degree course, they have certainly set the bar high for other students to follow.”

In addition to the success of the young enterprise degree students, Truro and Penwith College has also seen successes with their 14-19 year old young enterprise team. Winning the Best Overall Business award in their category and the Best Use of Social Media and IT award at the trade fair, the company ‘Aroma Beads’ will now be heading to the Cornish finals with their aromatherapy infused lava bead necklaces.

To find out more about University Courses at Truro and Penwith College, and how to apply for September 2018 entry, visit the website www.truro-penwith.ac.uk/uni or contact us for details: heenquiry@truro-penwith.ac.uk.