Royal favour! Meet the Hampshire innovators receiving the first King’s Awards for Enterprise

The first King’s Awards for Enterprise have arrived, with King Charles keen to continue the legacy built by his mother over the last 57 years.

This year adds 148 new entries to the list of 7,000 outstanding UK businesses honoured by the programme since it started back up in 1965.

And some of them are based right here in Hampshire, each earning recognition in the Innovation category:

• Care Friends, an employee referral business in Petersfield
• Sesanti, a high-tech camera firm in Weyhill
• Spinlock, a designer of marine safety devices on the Isle of Wight

His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenants will be visiting successful candidates throughout the year to hand over the awards.

In the meantime, we’ll be looking into each of the three winning Hampshire businesses and their cutting-edge products which caught the judges’ attention.

Care Friends, Petersfield

Care Friends have been recognised for their innovative app, which allows existing care staff to refer potential new recruits for their organisation quickly and easily on their own mobile phone.

This personal recommendation process has proven to produce higher quality candidates, with new recruits more likely to stay in their roles long term.

And there’s something in it for the employees too, who can earn points for successful referrals which they can then redeem for cash.

The company was founded by CEO Neil Eastwood, author of ‘Saving Social Care’, who said: “I am absolutely thrilled to receive a King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation. It means so much to all of us at Care Friends.

“We really are offering an innovative solution to the unprecedented recruitment and retention challenges that we know the vitally important social care sector is facing, and for our work to be recognised in these prestigious awards is a real achievement.

“Since launching in 2020 Care Friends has generated over 85,000 candidates who have been hand-picked for their values and suitability for social care by our existing workforce.

“Care workers have earned £4.5M via the app and employers are reporting year one staff turnover rates of new starters hired via the app are as much as six times lower than they are used to from other sources.

“We will continue to optimise the technology and are looking forward to bringing it to many more employers to support the social care sector in the future.”

Sesanti, Weyhill

Sesanti earned a King’s Award for its ultra-low light level long range product – ULARI for short – a next-generation camera designed for defence and security applications.

First conceived in 2016, the camera uses high-speed processing and algorithms to extract high-quality images from very few photons.

With great low light level capability, ULARI could also see use in humanitarian and search and rescue situations.

The team has already sold many millions of pounds worth of systems, with ongoing interest both at home and overseas.

Spinlock, Isle of Wight

Spinlock won the Innovation award for its waist-worn lifesaving device, the ALTO, a compact alternative to traditionally bulky buoyancy aids primarily marketed for fishing and watersports.

The team has been designing and manufacturing for the maritime sector from their base in Cowes since 1976, back when they bore the decidedly less catchy name Offshore Instruments.

But it was time for a change in the 1980s as the business shifted focus to rope control devices with the emergence of high tensile fibre ropes.

Spinlock is the proud recipient of both a Queen’s Award for Innovation and an Export Award, a list which it can now add to thanks to its latest recognition.