Business Master: From door-to-door salesman to pioneering eco-friendly SME

BIO-D is a hidden SME gem from Hull. Having been taken over by current managing director in 2011, the cleaning products manufacturer won the Small Business of the Year award at the Yorkshire Business Masters earlier this year.

Founded in 1989 by Michael Barwell, Bio-D was born of an interest in sustainability and ethically sourced products that was ahead of his time.

Initially sourcing chemicals to supply the shipping industry, Mr Barwell changed tack when he realised that shipping companies back then were largely not interested in what they were putting into watercourses. A visit from across the pond led Mr Barwell in the consumer direction, and from there, Bio-D as it is today was born.

We caught up with MD Lloyd Atkins to see how the business was getting on.

“The idea started when we realised that domestic pollution was more harmful than industrial pollution as it was not regulated. There are no rules on what you put down your drain whether it be bleach or cooking fat.”

The company began to work with universities which it does to this day to bring manufacturing in house, and the £2m-turnover company now employs 12 people at a facility in Hull.

The growth of the business, which has seen it double turnover from £1m just over two years ago, is down to changing consumer habits, said Mr Atkin.

He said: “People becoming more environmentally aware. There have been huge increases in allergies. It was an accident that we made low impact on environment and that a side effect was also low impact on people with sensitivities.”

He said that by 2020, 50% of the UK adult population will have some kind of allergy.

Mr Atkin said that Bio-D ticked the boxes for ethically-conscious consumers, with a low carbon footprint and no animal testing. Even its packaging is made from UK corn and is fully recyclable. But the company, like any other, has its supply chain issues.

“Most of the things we have are commodity based so prices fluctuate a lot,” he said. “Prices can be unstable and if there is a bad crop or harvest it limits availability, smooth out those issues and supply.

“In the coming year we will be focusing on innovation as much as we can with raw materials.

The company will be working with biorenewables dev and sheffield uni, looking at raw materials from waste streams,

“We will definitely be concentrating on our products, and we work on lower margins to increase availability of our products.

“One thing we will work on is relating to customers that per use rather than per volume it is cost effective – relating that has been a challenge s far.

But the big difference with Bio-D is not just in its products.

Mr Atkin said: “We look holistically at our business, not just the packaging and products but our operations as well.

“Household names that are attempting to get their green credentials don’t, they look at how they can market it to their advantage.

“We are continually improving our impact on the environment and exerting influence over supply chain. We make sure every aspect of the business is ethical and sourced fairly.”