Name: Ben Atkinson-Willes
Company: Active Minds
Age: 24
Website: www.active-minds.co.uk
A social enterprise based on mental agility products for dementia sufferers is displaying the potential of founder Ben Atkinson-Willes
Ben has proven that the most innovative ideas aren’t always those pushing technological boundaries. When his granddad was diagnosed with Alzheimers, Ben realised a gap in the market for products which would promote mental agility but were aimed at adults rather than children. Fast forward to today: Active Minds has just got past the 10,000 product mark, and has recently won a Level 2 award from UnLtd, the social enterprise organisation, to the value of £15,000.
Clients include the NHS, Age UK, and Bupa, and turnover has doubled in the last nine months. Furthermore, interest in the products has also been growing overseas, and the business now has distributors in the US, Ireland, Singapore and Australia. Ben says he is dedicated to Active Minds for the foreseeable future, but after that, who knows? With a confessed “appetite for social enterprise”, Ben looks set to be a name to watch in the space.