Background
Eco-friendly consumer chemical manufacturer The Friendly Chemical Company is a West Yorkshire business, based in Keighley. Their flagship brand, Miniml, provides natural, vegan and cruelty-free household cleaning and personal care products. In the UK, Miniml products are stocked in key retailers including Ocado, Morrisons and Amazon.
Having established Miniml well within the UK market, The Friendly Chemical Company saw the opportunity to grow their business through developing their international trade and engaged with West Yorkshire Business Boost Export in May 2024.
The challenge
The company has a strong foothold within the UK, and when they first spoke with John Sellers, our Export Manager from the Exemplas team delivering West Yorkshire Business Boost, they estimated that export contributed around 1% towards revenue. Simon Livingstone, Head of International, joined the business in November 2024 and was given the responsibility of developing international business from 1% to 10% of revenue by the end of 2025.
As a consumer chemical manufacturer, international regulatory compliance is essential for unlocking new markets. There’s investment required for each new market, so choosing the right priority markets was essential for the business in finding the markets with the best return on investment. There’s also a substantial amount of global market research that needs to be done to understand the consumer markets in each region.
The solution
Through West Yorkshire Business Boost Export, we provided one-to-one support to create an export action plan, identifying key opportunities for the business.
We are able to offer fully funded workshops through our delivery partners Chamber International. Simon attended two workshops in January 2025: Doing business with the UAE, Saudi and Qatar and Masterclass: Growing Your Export Sales and Brand in China. These workshops provided a great opportunity for Simon as the only member of the international team, to get fresh ideas from experts and new perspectives he may not have otherwise accessed.
We provided a grant-match contribution of almost £800 through our Internationalisation Fund. This funding went towards Simon attending the Cosmoprof Worldwide event in Italy in March 2025. At this event, Simon had meetings with a number of potential distributors – which will be key for building relationships and expanding the product reach through European territories and beyond.
The impact
The business has geared itself up for greatly developing its growth and export capability. By the end of 2025, Miniml will likely be in four or five new global markets and is likely to surpass its target of 10% revenue generated through exporting.
The business has expanded its team to keep up with consumer demand, with new employees having joined the factory, warehouse and customer services teams in the past 6 months.
Simon aims to grow his international team in line with the newly unlocked international markets and continue taking this trailblazing product to regions across the world.
“It’s a no-brainer to take advantage of these services. They don’t cost anything, and there are only positive things to gain. Every masterclass teaches you something valuable, and sometimes, that one piece of knowledge can be crucial when the time comes.
The support from West Yorkshire Business Boost has been brilliant. As a growing business, we face many costs, so having 50% of the expenses covered for attending an international trade event made it easier to make that decision to attend. It removes the financial barrier and allows us to explore new markets with confidence.
The application process was also seamless, with brilliant support throughout. No one should be put off by the idea of complex forms. It was so simple to do, and we were guided through every stage. I highly recommend taking advantage of the funded services available.” Simon Livingstone, Head of International, The Friendly Chemical Company