Motivational speaker Richard Reed has had the entrepreneurial spirit from a very early age, setting up ‘businesses’ from when he was just eight years old, with friends and neighbours as his customers. He has gone on from then to co-found one of the most successful British companies in recent years – the Innocent Smoothie Company.
Richard and a friend sold their first smoothies at a music festival and asked customers: ‘Should we give up our jobs to make these smoothies?’ The overwhelming opinion was that they should… so they did and the innocent company was born. Known for its off-beat but user-friendly way of communicating with customers – especially through quirky packaging – the innocent company describes its raison d’être as being ‘to make it easy for people to do themselves some good while making it taste nice too’.
According to motivational speaker Richard, products made by Innocent, including coconut water, lightly sparkling fruit juices, children’s drinks and fruit tubes, are intended to “help people live well and die old”.
Formed in 1999, the Innocent company has gone from employing three members of staff to 350, with a turnover of more than £200m a year and its products sold in 15 countries. Motivational speaker Richard Reed – once an Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year – not only inspires audiences with his incredible success story but also with how his business gives 10 per cent of its profits to international charities (through the Innocent Foundation) to help people escape hunger and poverty and build a better life for themselves.
Innocent has also set up The Big Knit, working with Age UK, where people knit scarves and other items to keep the elderly warm. The company’s stated aim is “to leave the planet a little bit better than how we found it”.
