Today, Manchester Footech company  Cocogreen has achieved a King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, recognising its worldwide success in providing fruit and veg growers with a type of “supersoil” (made from coconut husks) that powers up crop growth and is used in a similar way to compost.

The King’s Awards for Enterprise celebrates the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes, or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices. 

Founded in 2010, Cocogreen helps food growers worldwide reduce resource use, increase productivity, welfare, and biodiversity. 

Its patented technology (Moisture Control Technology, or MCT) makes its supersoil hold onto moisture like a sponge. This means crop growers can waste far less water—up to 30 percent—and more than double their crop yields.  

Cocogreen’s product is made from coconuts, an entirely renewable, peat-free raw material sourced from the company’s plantations in Sri Lanka. It is developed in an end-to-end supply chain controlled in-house.

This is doubly important as the UK has banned the use of peat-based compost, which will be banned from 2030. This trend is mirrored across the EU and more globally, tackling a practice that accounts for almost 5 per cent of global carbon emissions.  

More than 75 per cent of UK-grown berries are already planted using Cocogreen’s product, and the King’s Award signifies how the business is replicating that domination overseas. 

Over half of its revenue is from international exports, and the business is accelerating global expansion with new and existing clients in the Americas, Australasia, Europe, and Africa.  

Cocogreen’s CEO and co-founder, Dr Sudesh Fernando, said of the award win: 

“We’re honoured to accept this award for the second time. Our continuous investment in new technology and building a highly-skilled, in-house team has strengthened every link in our supply chain, which has been vital in supporting the rapid international growth we are experiencing. 

Despite the challenges of global unrest we have been able to adapt and maintain quality products and services, meeting high and growing demand in the face of a peat-free future. What’s more, we’ve done so in a way that is ethical and sustainable, and therefore true to our founding principles.” 

Lead image: Cocogreen. Photo: uncredited.