Llandeilo-based social enterprise, Swperbox, took home the Social Enterprise Start-up of the Year prize at 2021’s Wales StartUp Awards.

Swperbox are a meal box delivery service, which creates, manufactures and delivers food across South and West Wales.

They beat three other finalists to take home the prize, which was sponsored by WCVA, at this year’s awards ceremony.

This marks the latest chapter in the meteoric rise of a social enterprise that only opened for business last year at the start of the pandemic.

Finding opportunities for work limited as the effects of the pandemic took hold, chefs Alex Cook and Stuart Crichton decided to apply their expertise in food to creating a sustainable meal delivery service.

And despite the obstacle of lockdown restrictions, they’ve delivered over 2,000 recipe boxes to 200 loyal customers, with over 400kg of locally sourced vegetables and 200kg of local meat since March 2020.

This added up to £30,000 of income for their suppliers, as their community-orientated business model helped inject money into the local economy at a time when businesses needed it most.

Despite their early accomplishments, co-founder Alex Cook says there have been ‘no shortcuts’ in their path to success ‘There’s been plenty of hard work and collaboration with Welsh organisations on a regional and national level including Food Centre Wales, Social Business Wales, Wales Coop Centre, WCVA, Slow Food Wales, Carmarthenshire Food Network and Carmarthenshire County Council.’

Deciding to put social values at the core of their business enterprise, they set up Swperbox with the aim of providing healthy, locally sourced food and sustainable employment.

To help them along their journey, they received investment from the Social Business Growth Fund (SBGF), part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government and administered by Social Investment Cymru at WCVA.

Caryl Adams of WCVA, who also sat on the judges panel, said: "There’s so much to be impressed by with Swperbox, not only because of what they’ve achieved in such a short space of time, but also because they’ve done it while remaining committed to their social values. This means their success isn’t theirs alone – it’s their community’s too."

At a time when getting reliable income and investment might have proved difficult due to the pandemic, Alex said of the funding: "The SBGF funding has enabled us to employ more staff to deliver a greater product or service and avoid shortfalls in revenue.

"This funding will enable us to become self-sustainable as a commercially viable social enterprise, with organic growth delivering substantial economic, environmental and social outcomes for our community. Wales Coop Centre and SBGF are crucial to this business and the 40+ smaller businesses in our supply chain."