A Birmingham-based global travel firm, launched to make the world accessible to all disabled travellers, has been named one of the most exceptional businesses in the UK.
Limitless Travel was launched after founder Angus Drummond was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. He quit his job in investment banking and decided to travel the world – an amazing experience but a discovery of the difficulties of traveling with a disability.
So Angus launched a review and advice website for disabled travelers – which he has grown into “more than a travel company,” a proud provider of supported and bespoke holidays for people with a wide range of mobility restrictions and disabilities.
The business now employs 14 people and enables and empowers hundreds of people to travel in the UK and worldwide. With 80% of its customers taking a holiday for the first time in 5 years, it is truly removing the barriers to travel which many people with disabilities face.
Limitless Travel’s positive impact on its customers’ lives and its global growth has so impressed an independent panel of business experts that this week the business was named one of just 3 UK finalists for an international foundation’s “Microentrepreneur Award for Growth.”
The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards, funded by the Citi Foundation, are an annual celebration of Britain’s entrepreneurs who have accessed “responsible” business finance.
Angus’ business journey was supported by an incubation programme and seed investment from specialist “responsible finance” provider, Key Fund.
Angus Drummond said:
“I’m delighted to be a finalist in the Microentrepreneur Award for Growth category and for Limitless Travel to be recognised for everything that it has achieved. We are building not only a commercially successful business but one that is socially responsible and having a huge impact on people’s lives by enabling people with a disability to travel, often for the first time in a number of years. Travel has the power to help people overcome many of life’s challenges and being a finalist means we are able to raise awareness of this and the fantastic service we offer.”
Many of the UK’s 5.9 million SMEs (Small, Medium and Microenterprises) would not exist without the financial and business support they access from the UK’s ethical “responsible finance” sector, which in 2019 lent £171 million to thousands of credit-worthy businesses and social enterprises.
“Businesses like Limitless Travel play a vital role in strengthening communities throughout the UK by creating jobs, unlocking opportunities, and addressing social challenges,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director, Citi Inclusive Finance and Community Development.
“The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards recognise the positive impact they are having on a local and national scale, and these exceptional finalists and the responsible finance providers which supported them all contribute to the economic, social and environmental vibrancy of their communities. We are proud to support the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards and the eighth cohort of finalists in the UK.”
Theodora Hadjimichael, Chief Executive of Responsible Finance, said:
“With impressive entrants from all over the UK, entrepreneurs and their businesses needed to be truly remarkable to make the shortlist.”
Angus must now wait until 9 July 2020 when the winners of the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards will be announced.
Read about the other finalists here.