Happy Birthday Green Bean!

​We’re celebrating another year of our loveable friend Green Bean bringing fun outdoor adventures to families across the globe! As Green Bean turns four this year, it’s a great time to reflect on all of the exciting things happening at Green Bean Studios.

KPMG Black Entrepreneurs’ Award
We are delighted to have recently won the KPMG Black Entrepreneurs’ Awards (BEA) which will provide us with 12 months of mentoring from the KPMG Canary Wharf team to accelerate Green Bean Studios' forwards.
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BEA is a programme that celebrates Black Heritage entrepreneurs in the UK and provides a platform for them to market their businesses to a wider audience. Official events kick off next week at KPMG Canary Wharf where Green Bean Studios’ founder Anita Frost will join the other award winners to connect, celebrate, and share their experiences.

Reaching for the SKY
If you’ve been following our journey over the last year, you’ll know that Green Bean’s journey into the world of TV has continued to develop and gain traction. We are pleased to share that we are in the final stage of confirming Green Bean going on tour with SKY TV, performing in-house Storytime sessions with employees along with their children and grandparents.
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Our first event is now confirmed at SKY Stockport Centre on 26th October 2024, with upcoming events soon to be confirmed across the UK.

Innovation and investment
Anita Frost has been selected to participate in an Investment Showcase Event for the Create Growth Program. Feedback about her application highlighted that it stood out among a highly competitive pool of candidates, and they were excited about the commercial opportunity outlined.

Following several successful award wins with Innovate UK, the organisation has pledged to match our next investment round up to 70% of what an investor will put in. This will enable us to put our plans for scaling the business and adding new retail lines into action, bringing even more joy and fun learning adventures to our little fans!

This Programme was launched by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in partnership with Innovate UK, and designed to support the development of creative businesses with high-growth potential across England.
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The flagship event will bring together Founders, investors and key stakeholders to exchange ideas for driving sustainable growth in the sector, presenting a fantastic opportunity for Green Bean Studios to highlight our business and connect with investors and other key stakeholders within the wider start-up ecosystem.
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The Showcase Day will revolve around Founder-investor networking and highly-focused sessions on raising and driving investment in the creative sector with a chance to pitch and showcase/demonstrate your product and services.

Beckett the Bee Soft Toy
Earlier this year we launched our new Beckett the Bee Soft Toy which is exclusively on sale at Manchester Museum and The Whitworth, as well as now being available on our website. Using part of Innovate UK’s Inclusive Innovation Award that we won in 2023, we developed this two-part sensory toy made from soft eco fabrics.

To create this new product, we partnered with Lancaster University’s Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, with PHD students helping to test and develop sustainable materials to combat the increasing use of fast plastics and reduce the environmental impact of our toys.
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The response to our new toy has been incredible, attracting loyal brand fans as well as plenty of new fans to enjoy our eco toys and explore the Green Bean Collection.

Good Play Guide
Green Bean is a character that inspires children to learn through play and go on fun outdoor adventures. We have long seen the benefits Green Bean brings to early years children by supporting their development and encouraging imaginative play, and we are absolutely thrilled that our Green Bean Soft Toy has been recommended by Dr. Amanda Gummer's Good Play Guide.

Green Bean makes new friends
We were excited to have our full retail lines the Green Bean Collection in store at both Manchester Museum and The Whitworth this year. Also partnering with both establishments, we  hosted exclusive storytime sessions and events within the museums with Green Bean & Friends. At the Manchester Museum, Green Bean featured as the leading character mascot of their Wild Exhibition in June.

Our new Beckett the Bee toy is also being sold exclusively within Manchester Museum and The Whitworth supporting Manchester City Center's high-street shopping whilst inspiring children to learn about the environment.
These partnerships have opened up new opportunities, expanding our customer base and supporting even more families to have fun outdoor adventures together.

Our Green Bean Soft Toy remains to be our all-time best seller, continuing to attract new fans as some local university students have been purchasing our household friend!
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We’re looking forward to what this next year brings for Green Bean Studios – stay tuned via our social channels:
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