Blue Badge Company, the fast-growing Bristol business that makes stylish-but-practical living aids, has recruited its 21st member of staff – two years after it was launched with just one person.
Yvonne Bowman has joined the firm as it continues to reap the rewards of founder Ellen Green’s appearance on BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den.
While Ellen, pictured, walked away empty-handed after rejecting offers by three dragons to invest in her business, the firm received two months’ worth of orders for its products in just 24 hours. 
Blue Badge Company makes colourful Blue Badge display wallets, walking stick bags, lap trays and other products – turning traditionally drab products into stylish items.
Forty per cent of Blue Badge Company’s staff are registered disabled or primary care givers and the business has committed to maintain this proportion as it grows.
Latest recruit Yvonne is profoundly deaf and registered disabled after being struck by a rare autoimmune disease called Cogan’s Syndrome in 1993.
She struggled to find permanent work for a number of years and took up a variety of voluntary and short-term roles before Pluss, an organisation which helps people with disabilities, put her in touch with Blue Badge Company.
She is helping the Montpelier-based firm fulfil a recently won contact with Argos’s online business. Blue Badge Company also supplies Halfords, Boots and the Post Office.
Yvonne said: “Working with Blue Badge has given me newfound confidence in working with people again after years of being out of touch, as well as providing my family home with extra income, meaning I can contribute towards things just as my husband, who has normal hearing, does.”
Ellen added: “Being able to employ people who are disabled is as much a part of the direction of this business as the products we make and sell.
“Being disabled is in no way a barrier to work and Yvonne is a great example of a hard-working person, who, through no fault of her own, has faced challenges that able-bodied people do not experience when trying to secure work.
“The response and reaction to Dragons’ Den – apart from receiving two months’ orders in 24 hours – has enabled us to accelerate our fast growth programme and Yvonne’s appointment is another milestone following a busy 2015.”
The firm’s turnover has quadrupled from £64,000 in its first year to £250,000 and is set to reach nearly £400,000 this financial year.
Ellen launched the business in 2011 when she decided it was time to scale up a concept dreamt up with a friend in the back bedroom of their shared house. After her appearance on Dragons’ Den she secured £30,000 in growth finance from peer-to-peer loan company Funding Circle without releasing any equity in the business.
