Cheeky Panda's VOOM Journey

We're delighted to announce we've partnered up with Crowdfunder, a leading fundraising platform which helps people turn their projects into a reality through Crowdfunding. Projects that are in need of an extra helping hand will receive some 'InstantLove' from instantprint, in the form of the promotional print tools they need to secure as many money pledges as possible.

VOOM is the UK and Ireland's biggest competition offering the chance to pitch your business directly to Sir Richard Branson and win £1m. There is still time to enter, and if you tick the box to crowdfund at the same time (thanks Crowdfunder!) you can also be in with the opportunity to win £50k for raising funds as well as votes as part of the comp! 

We caught up with one of our businesses who are receiving our 'InstantLove' to share why they got involved in VOOM to find out how it all works…

Meet – The Cheeky Panda!

Tell us about your VOOM project in five words…

Sustainable, Healthy, Bamboo, Toilet Tissue.

Why have you joined #VOOM and importantly – crowdfund at the same time?

It’s a great way to market our product to a wide audience and most importantly, attract influencers who can let others know about our fantastic project.

How has crowdfunding helped you?

Crowdfunding is giving us lots of good PR and wider media opportunities, the ability to get pre-orders of stock as well as the initial working capital to get the business off the ground.

How are you encouraging pledges for VOOM 2016?

We are asking friends and family, Twitter, Facebook and using street marketing and the media.

Will your project create jobs? 

Yes: it’s a circular economy project - we turn surplus bamboo into tissue and create at all stages from farmers to manufacturing to supply chain to our staff as well as retail firms.

How will the project improve the lives of people?

We use 10m trees a year for toilet tissue and the forests of the world cannot survive this use.  By switching to Bamboo we will not only protect the rainforests but it’s also a lot healthier, particularly for ladies and people with sensitive skin.

What’s the best bit about crowdfunding? Has it spurred you to do other things?

Crowdfunding is fun, it’s also given us a target to aim for and helped define our message to the market.  It helped with the branding and the slogans.  Successful businesses are all about making money and providing a good service and crowdfunding is a very good way to stress test the business at it the start.

Where do you want to be in five years?

We want to be selling Bamboo to millions of people and in the process help save millions of trees.  It’s not all about the money, while the rewards can be very nice, this project/business is about doing something for the future generations and having a legacy we can be proud of.

It’s not too late to add your business to VOOM - add today to be in with the chance of wining cash, raising your profile and pitching to Sir Richard Branson himself. Get your VOOM on!