incognito insect repellent wins another Queen's Award 🌱

We are thrilled to announce that incognito is the proud recipient of another Queens Award for Enterprise – especially to be honoured under the ‘Sustainable Development’ category: as there are only 19 winners out of 221 overall!

What are the Queen’s Awards?

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious awards for UK businesses and the Sustainable Development award recognises “commercially successful products, services and management that benefit the environment, society and the economy.” In fact they are deemed the highest accolade by all Commonwealth countries, not just the UK.

Sustainable development is central to our business. incognito® products protect consumers from discomfort as well as mosquito-borne and tick-borne diseases, while reducing the amount of conventional insecticides and pesticides such as Deet.

We ensure all incognito products have the lowest environmental footprint possible in terms of formulation, production, packaging and distribution. Our range uses only 100% natural, biodegradable and even organic ingredients that do not pollute local groundwater, unlike conventional insecticides. We manufacture our flagship products in the UK, minimising transportation to key markets and all packaging is either free of plastic, or uses plastic made from renewable source sugarcane.

Why do we deserve such a Queen's award?

Before we developed natural incognito, synthetic, pesticide-based insect repellents such as DEET were considered the only effective options. Increasingly, however, research bodies such as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) are also now recommending PMD (our main active ingredient) along with the NHS, Public Health England & The CDC.

incognito leads the way in its sector with innovative eco-solutions such as combining powerful sunscreen, moisturiser and repellent in one sugarcane-plastic tube (incognito suncream insect repellent), reducing the number of products, and therefore the volume of petroleum-based-plastic packaging required by each consumer.

Having survived both malaria and dengue fever contracted while travelling – despite using antimalarial drugs and synthetic repellents – our CEO, Howard Carter, was inspired to develop a natural product that really works to prevent insect bites, without harmful side effects to the user or the environment.

Vector-borne illnesses from insects account for more than 17% of all infectious diseases, impacting the physical and economic wellbeing of millions of people, especially in low income countries. incognito® is 100% effective against mosquitoes that carry dangerous diseases like Zika, Malaria, Dengue and Chikungunya.

Why did we apply for a Queen’s Award?

Competing for such a prestigious award inspires the incognito team to be the best we can possibly be, challenging us to put what we believe into words, and to keep putting those words into action. It allows us to show ourselves, each other, our customers and suppliers that our commitment is real and can withstand very close scrutiny.

What winning the award means for team incognito

Everyone at incognito® plays a role in making our business more sustainable – finding ways to eliminate single-use plastic packaging, reusing materials such as boxes, recycling, communicating our values to customers, encouraging young staff to build new skills, building a supply chain in line with our ethos. This award belongs to every staff member, we all know what it means and we bear the Queens Award logo with pride.

How winning the award will benefit our business

As well as major supermarkets and pharmacies, incognito® is retailed through independent health stores and travel clinics worldwide. To them, the Queens Award attests to the high standards we apply to manufacturing and distribution processes, so that those retailers can confidently recommend us to their exacting customer base.

The award also boosts confidence in incognito® through the length of our supply chain, enabling us to work more effectively with suppliers and distributors around the UK and across the globe. We help them through education to better protecting you, our customers, and the world around you.