RAW - Rick Mower and Graham Ballantyne

RAW was founded to prove, by doing not talking about it, that people who have overcome life’s toughest challenges are often the best people to have in your business. Simply put, the innate tenacity, resilience and graft it takes to overcome significant personal challenges are powerful transferable skills.

With over 75% of its workforce having faced adversity such as incarceration, addiction or mental health issues it is proud to have grown to become the UK’s leading social enterprise manufacturer of indoor and outdoor furniture for the corporate, hospitality and education sectors. It has a broad pan-sector client portfolio ranging from GAILs Bakeries to GSK and from Grosvenor Estates to Oxford University. It also launched RAW Harvesting, a ground-breaking circular economy service which enables brands and organisations to increase reuse of existing furniture and increase sustainability outcomes. Recognising that most negative trajectories take root in childhood it also operates ‘RAW Potential’ to support young people who are facing the kind of issues that can, unaddressed, lead to tough futures.