Bamboo Buds owner wins Entrepreneur of the Year award
Bamboo Buds owner, Sed Shaikh, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of just 21 while still a student at university. After undergoing extensive treatment, including an operation and hours of chemotherapy, he fought his way back to health.
Sed Shaikh started the company early in 2019 and it has been going from strength to strength, selling not only to the general public, but also securing stockists and distributors in the vet, arts and crafts and beauty salon sectors.
The UK Government introduced a ban on supplying plastic straws and stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds on Thursday 1st October 2020, marking yet another major step in our fight against single-use plastic waste to protect our environment and clean up our oceans.
One of the factors in Bamboo Buds owner, Sed Shaikh, winning the entrepreneur of the year award, was recognition of his vision to launch a plastic stemmed cotton bud replacement, before the government confirmed their ban.
Bamboo Buds are not the only bamboo cotton buds on the market and many of these products boast of their sustainability credentials based simply on the fact they are made from bamboo.
The reality however, is somewhat more nuanced, in that some sources of bamboo are not wholly sustainable.
China is the global hub of sustainable bamboo production. The Bamboo used by Bamboo Buds is grown just outside Handan in China by two FSC accredited, relatively small independent bamboo growers, who produce their crops exclusively for Bamboo Buds, which means their bamboo costs almost 85% more than 100’s of bamboo cotton buds sticks currently available in China.
Their organic cotton is grown in, and sourced from, India, which is the global hub of sustainable organic cotton. Manufacture, including the sterilisation process, recycled packaging and environmentally friendly inks used in their unique, registered design, packaging is undertaken by our manufacturing partner.
The supply chain and manufacturing process is all carbon neutral, and they use UPS, specifically for their carbon natural international shipping credentials, to ship our finished product into the UK.
Once in the UK, shipping is carried out by Hermes, who not only have carbon natural credentials, but are the first national UK courier to achieve 100% renewable electricity in their operations and the first to successfully trial electric HGV vehicles.
Being able to provide a carbon natural, supply chain and biodegradable product with fully recyclable packing has cost implications and whilst Bamboo Buds may not have the cheapest bamboo cotton buds available on the market, they do have an eco-friendly alternative that they boast is competitively priced.
These combined factors lead to the Sed being nominated for the entrepreneur of the year. The awards are run by Oceanic Consulting and commend members of the British Muslim community for their entrepreneurship. The awards ceremony took place at the British Muslim Heritage Centre on the 24th of February 2022.
Sed Shaikh, was awarded the prestigious entrepreneur of the year, which was recognised by the Bolton Evening News who reported on the achievement on Saturday 5th March 2022.
CEO of Oceanic Consulting, Irfan Younis, said: “Every year I think we’ve seen the best the British Muslim community has to offer but every year I’m blown away by just how special the talent is and just how hard people work to service their communities”.
Mr Shaikh, when interviewed by Bolton Evening News, said: “I started Bamboo Buds as a way to give back to cancer charities, never expecting to get recognised for something close to my heart.”
This is not the first time Bolton Evening News has reported on the Mr Shaikh, with them publishing and earlier article in August 2021 detailing the support Mr. Shaikh makes to cancer charities as way of showing his appreciation for every they did to help him through his own personal battle against cancer.
The owner of Bamboo Buds makes a personal donation, to a number of approved cancer charities, of 10 pence for every box of Bamboo Buds sold.
If you want to help protect our environment, support cancer charities and want a high quality sustainable, eco-friendly cotton bud, you need look no further than Bamboo Buds, which only cost £3.99 for 400 in their online shop.
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