KESS 2 company partner Halen Môn is to receive The Queen’s Award for Enterprise thanks to their continuous commitment to sustainable growth and the environment. Her Majesty announced the awards on her birthday (April 21st), these awards are given on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and the Queen’s Awards Assessment Team. Halen Môn are the first enterprise in Wales to win the award.
The ‘Saltcote’ is clad in Welsh larch, baked using an innovative process at low temperatures for long term almost maintenance-free life.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the UK’s most prestigious business awards to celebrate and encourage business excellence and recognise outstanding achievement in the fields of International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development.
Halen Môn, who currently have two active PhD research projects through KESS 2, sell their award-winning sea salts all over the world to famous chefs and restaurants and believe the ‘co-products’ of the salt-making process are just as important. These ‘co-products’ are sold for uses as varied as Venus Flytrap food, fuel for model steam trains, cigar humidors, and supplements for race horses and even racing camels.
The company’s ‘Saltcote’ centre, where the world famous Halen Môn Sea Salt is made, sits on the banks of the Menai Strait and at the heart of their environmental commitments. Halen Môn’s sustainability pledge includes utilising the solar energy generated on site, planting a wildflower meadow to encourage wildlife and recycling old equipment to make business signage.
“Winning The Queen’s Award is so encouraging for so many reasons – it is proof that actions we take as individuals all add up to something far greater than the sum of their parts,” said Alison Lea-Wilson, founding Partner of Halen Môn.
David Lea-Wilson, co-founder and Partner, said, “We are all extremely proud of this Award and see it as a reflection of our team as a whole. Every employee at Halen Môn has played their part in our success. Against an uncertain political backdrop concerning climate change, it’s really brilliant to see that the actions everybody in our company take every day are being recognised as worthwhile by Her Majesty the Queen.”
Lady Barbara Judge, Chairman of the Institute of Directors, said that “Starting a business is an inherently risky and difficult endeavour and those who succeed deserve the recognition they receive through this award. We should celebrate businesses of all shapes and sizes but particularly those that contribute to a more prosperous economy through innovation, international trade and sustainable development.”
The Queen’s Award will be presented by the Lord Lieutenant, Her Majesty’s highest representative in the county, later in the year.
To find out more about how you could become a KESS 2 company partner, visit our Business Homepage.
