Optibac Wins Prestigious Queen’s Award

Leona Beeson BSc (Hons) Psychology

We are truly honoured to announce that we have been awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2019 in the international trade category, as a result of impressive international growth!

Queen's award being presented

Our founders, Jalal and Soraya, and our Export team, with the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire 

The Queen’s Awards celebrate the best of British business and recognise companies who are making an outstanding contribution to enterprise. With this achievement, we join an impressive list of organisations who have previously been honoured in this way, including Dyson, JCB, and Jaguar Land Rover.

Instituted by Royal Warrant in 1965 and considered the UK’s most prestigious business awards, this award boasts a specialist panel that judges each entry and makes a recommendation to the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee. Her Majesty the Queen then decides the winners, who each receive an official grant of appointment and an invitation to a celebratory reception at Buckingham Palace.

Wren Laboratories Ltd., our parent company, was founded in 2004 by siblings Jalal, Soraya and Farah and is based near Andover in Hampshire. As you may well know, we specialise entirely in live cultures, which are the subject of increasing amounts of clinical research to date.

 Directors

Wren Laboratories Ltd. was founded by siblings Farah, Jalal and Soraya

Our award-winning range of supplements include many of the world’s most researched strains of friendly bacteria. They are sold to health food stores and pharmacies across the UK and Ireland, as well as to many export markets across Europe and further afield such as the USA, China and Vietnam. We've seen our overseas sales rise an impressive 350% between 2016 and 2018.

Jalal Janmohamed, our Managing Director, commented:

“We are honoured to receive this incredible accolade. It is a testament to the great talent we have behind our business, as well as our continued investment to bring the very best in friendly bacteria to our customers both here and abroad. Thank you to everyone who supports our business, especially to all our loyal customers.”

Queen's award photo of staff

We are so delighted to have won such a prestigious award!

We are a family-run business, employing over 80 people across Hampshire and London. Inspired by their father, a successful community pharmacist, the siblings founded the Optibac brand with the ambition to help people take better control of their overall health and wellbeing. Before attending university, the three siblings were educated in Wiltshire; Jalal attended Marlborough College, and Soraya and Farah The Godolphin School in Salisbury.

We take great pride in being an ethical and socially conscious business. We've raised over £192,000 for women’s rights charity, Womankind Worldwide through donations made from every pack sold of our ‘For women’. Other supported charities include local initiatives Naomi House and Jack’s Place, The Aga Khan University Hospital’s Patient Welfare Programme, Whole Planet Foundation, Macmillan Cancer Support, The British Heart Foundation and Save the Children.

Take a look at our Queen's Award Celebration:


If you'd like to read more about our award-winning company, take a look at our Who We Are and What We Do pages.

Take a look at some more awards we've won:
'For every day' wins Rude Health Awards 2019
'For women' wins Your Healthy Living 2018 Award!
'For babies & children' wins in the Mama & Baby awards