Blue Badge Company, the Bristol firm that designs and makes a range of stylish living aids, has been shortlisted for its first national awards.
Director Ellen Green has been selected in two categories of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in recognition of the firm’s products, which are transforming the disability market. 
Ellen, pictured, is in the running for Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year, which champions businesses that make their products in Britain, creating opportunities, fostering innovation and diversity in the UK.
She has also been shortlisted for Social Enterprise (UK) Entrepreneur of the Year, which goes to someone with a track record of leadership in battling Britain’s social challenges and directs a company geared towards creating positive social changes.
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on November 25.
The Blue Badge Company was set up four years ago to create colourful display wallets that would inject some fun style into the previously dull and clinical disability market.
Ellen took sole control of the company two years ago and under her leadership, it has grown from one to 21 staff and sold more than 100,000 of its display wallets across the UK.
It has extended its range to include walking stick bags, lap trays and wheat warmers, offering greater choice to disabled consumers. 
The firm was featured on BBC’s Dragons’ Den earlier this year. Ellen walked away empty-handed after rejecting offers from three of the dragons in return for shares in her business. She later secured a £30,000 investment from Funding Circle without giving up any equity in the firm.
The company now produces more than 1500 Blue Badge wallets a week and supplies to 2,500 Boots stores nationwide, the Post Office, Halfords and Argos online.
All its products are made at the company’s Bristol workshop, where 40% of the staff are either disabled or a primary care giver.
Ellen said: “We’re a small company so to be competing on a national level like this is amazing.
“Our success as a company is down to the dedication of our team in Bristol. These nominations are testament to their hard work.
“At Blue Badge Company we try to remove the barriers to work that disabled people face and increase understanding of disability.
“Providing work for those that find it more difficult to access employment has a significant impact on personal confidence and team moral.
“One thing that has always driven me is the idea that business has a responsibility to be good for society and I’ve discovered that a rewarding, sustainable job can change someone’s life – I’ve seen it first hand and it’s the part of my company that we are all most proud of.”
Blue Badge Company’s turnover has quadrupled in two years from £64,000 to nearly quarter of a million pounds and looks set to reach nearly £400,000 this year.
Ellen hopes to grow Blue Badge Company into the biggest supplier and manufacturer of modern living aids in the UK in the next three to five years.
Read Ellen Green’s LAST WORD on Bristol Business News here
