The Tiny Box Company looks set to yield big dividends with an ambitious export strategy aided by the Department for International Trade
She’s been commissioned to make customised cardboard boxes for bionic arms, sex toys and deceased pets and is currently in negotiations with an international hotel chain to produce 1,000 wooden caskets a month for eco coffee pods.
For serial entrepreneur Rachel Watkyn, however, whose business career started at the age of seven, when she funded her sweet habit by picking strawberries for a local farmer, thinking outside of the box comes naturally.
Launched in 2007, her £10 million Tiny Box Company began life making sustainable boxes for fair trade jewellery and candlestick makers but over time, she has added butchers, bakers and most other businesses to the mix.
With more than 100,000 customers, 700 products and a 2021 export list running to 42 countries including Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the US, the Sussex-based firm is now the largest online gift packaging company in the UK.