Pop Pressed helping to drive forward progress on UK Net Zero
Press release
Ahead of COP 29 next week, local business POP Pressed has taken measures to make sure it is one of the small businesses helping to drive progress in the UK’s journey to Net Zero.
POP Pressed serves as inspiration for existing or aspiring business owners, of any age and at any stage of their sustainability journey.
POP Pressed, a female-founded, Manchester-based organic and plant-based cold-pressed juice brand, previously secured a £15,000 Start Up Loan via its partner, Business Enterprise Fund. Before launching her own business, founder Kayleigh Cooper split her time between teaching yoga and working in a local health food café. When the pandemic hit, Kayleigh was placed on furlough so couldn’t do either job.
Despite these challenges, Kayleigh moved to Manchester and began working in a local deli that was providing a takeaway service. After teaming up with the deli to launch a juice menu, she was inspired to use the experience to launch her own juice shop and founded POP Pressed as a result, which is plastic free and focuses on having a positive environmental impact. POP is an acronym for “powerful organic plants”, in a nod to the roots of the main product of the business.
Originally, Kayleigh had planned to launch an online store, but her customer base quickly grew larger than expected resulting in the need to move into her own shop as a permanent home for the organic juice bar. Two years ago, the business transitioned to a delivery-only service. Kayleigh makes all of her juices from home, delivering to customers all over Manchester in her VW Beetle that she has turned into a ‘POP mobile’.
Kayleigh Cooper, founder of POP Pressed, said:
It was so important to me that my business was sustainable and forward-looking, contributing to a circular economy. When I started POP Pressed, I focused on making it plastic-free while enabling people to reconnect with the planet through the products used in the juices. The business took off faster than I could have imagined, and the Start Up Loan was pivotal for me in supporting this growth.
The Start Up Loan was hugely important – it empowered me to set up POP Pressed, enabled me to buy the juices and the products I needed, and I even used it to get a professional graphic designer to create our logo. POP Pressed wouldn’t be where it is today without the funding, and I wouldn’t have been able to create a sustainable business without it.
Richard Bearman, Managing Director, Small Business Lending at the British Business Bank said:
POP Pressed exemplifies our commitment to helping businesses improve their sustainability. As leaders gather at COP 29, we know it’s vital that small businesses feel able and empowered to green up their businesses and Start Up Loans fully supports efforts to increase sustainable business practices.
Small businesses are crucial in the journey to achieving Net Zero goals. The British Business Bank’s 2021 Smaller businesses and the transition to net zero report found that smaller businesses account for around half of UK business greenhouse gas emissions.
Smaller businesses can find a wealth of independent and impartial information to support their transition to net zero via the British Business Bank’s Finance Hub.
As an official Business Support Partner for the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loan programme, Business Enterprise Fund operates within a network of Business Support Partners, delivering Start Up Loans in the range of £500 to £25,000 across the UK.
We are immensely proud to support innovative entrepreneurs like Kayleigh, whose commitment to sustainability is truly inspiring. POP Pressed exemplifies how small businesses can make a significant impact on the UK's journey towards Net Zero by embracing eco-friendly practices and reconnecting customers with the planet. Through the Start Up Loans programme, we're dedicated to empowering visionaries who are not only building successful enterprises but are also making positive environmental contributions. We look forward to seeing POP Pressed continue to flourish and inspire others to adopt sustainable business models. - Tim Burt Senior Investment Manager at BEF
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