Innocent founder to present talk

Richard Reed will be presenting a talk at the University’s Enterprise Fest on Wednesday, 30 March 2011.

The talk at Wolverhampton Science Park from 10.30am to 12.30pm will focus on how a £500 investment turned into a multi-million pound company.

Enterprise Fest allows students to find out more about graduate opportunities, careers and employability and self-employment.

Head of Marketing, Raman Sarpal, said: “Innocent is the UK’s leading smoothie brand and we are delighted to be welcoming Richard Reed to present a talk to our students.

“The company grew from humble beginnings into a multi-national business, so we’re sure Richard will have lots of insights to inspire entrepreneurial students hoping to follow in his footsteps.”

Innocent was started in May 1999 by Richard and two friends, and turned over more than £100m in 2009, selling over two million smoothies in over 11,000 outlets each week in the UK and Europe.

The team has grown from three to 250 people who work across Europe, and the products are available in 13 different countries.

The Innocent range has expanded to include smoothies in little bottles and big one litre cartons, smoothies for children, thickies made from a blend of yoghurt and fruit, a range of NFC orange and apple juice and Veg pots, a range of quick and tasty meals.

The company donates 10% of its profits to charity, primarily to the Innocent foundation, which funds rural development projects in the countries where their fruit comes from.

Places for the Enterprise Fest talk are open to current University of Wolverhampton students and graduates. Visit www.wlv.ac.uk/innocent to book a place.

For more information about Innocent, visit www.innocentdrinks.co.uk

ENDS 

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