Cider Makers are ‘National Business Heroes’

From left: Kevin Sweet, Lorraine Kelly (TV Presenter), Nikki Crewes-Sweet and Deanna Oppenheimer, Chief Executive, UK Retail Banking, Barclays Bank PLC

A Welsh cidermaking couple who triumphed over personal adversity to successfully establish their own business, have been named Gold Winners of the 2008 Barclays Trading Places Awards.

Kevin Sweet (39) and Nikki Crewes-Sweet (40), who started Toloja Orchards three years ago, were presented with a cheque for £10,000, courtesy of Barclays, at a dinner in London. The couple also walked away with £3,400 worth of Microsoft desktop and server software.

In 1991 Nikki and Kevin both enjoyed full-time employment in the construction industry and were looking forward to getting married. However, the excitement of their wedding was short-lived as Nikki was made redundant just before they tied the knot.

Soon after, Kevin was also made redundant and subsequently went onto lose his job three times in the following three years each time at Christmas. The newlyweds continued struggle against unemployment throughout the early part of their marriage and even had to sell their wedding gifts to make ends meet.

Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse when they were evicted from their home, which had been in Kevin’s family for over 60 years.

In 2002 Kevin and Nikki’s luck changed when they moved to a farm in the Welsh countryside. A chance suggestion by Kevin prompted them to grow an orchard on their new land, which inspired them to start making cider.  But this was somewhat short-lived when Kevin fell ill with a heart problem resulting in emergency life saving surgery; his journey to recovery continues to be a long one.

Finally, their dream became a reality when they launched Toloja Orchards in 2005 named after their three children (Tom, Lottie & James). Kevin and Nikki’s natural cider has been a sell-out success and has already taken home the Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes in the Welsh Perry & Cider Championships, as well as three commendations in the True Taste of Wales Awards.

The couple are now developing the Toloja Orchards brand and the variety of products in production on their farm. In the future they also hope to open a farm shop and expand to online sales.

John Davis, Barclays Marketing Director for Local Business and a judge on the panel, said: ‘The calibre of this year’s entries was exceptional but the judges unanimously agreed that Toloja Orchards shone out as an outstanding business that has thrived despite what seemed like impossible odds.’

The government backed Awards, now in their fourth year, are supported by Jobcentre Plus, The Prince’s Trust, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA) and Microsoft.

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