Meet the social enterprise founder helping to fund educational projects around the globe

His own adventures in Peru and India had opened his eyes to the inequalities in the quality of education children receive in other parts of the world. “It made me understand how big the problem really was and how the deprivation of education was not only a long-term consequence for the individuals affected, but also for the next generation who become part of a repeat cycle of inequality and poverty,” says Bhavesh.

Determined to play a part in breaking the cycle, he founded Storyteller, a social business selling personalised products for travellers to capture their memories with 10 per cent of the profits helping to fund sustainable educational programmes.

The FlagMate keyring, designed and made in the UK, enables people to attach hand-painted flags for every country they visit.

These can be engraved with dates and other details to remind their owner of special moments.

Since 2018, money raised from the sales of Storyteller’s products has been used to support more than 3,000 children in countries such as Nepal, Laos, Tanzania and India.

Storyteller partners with charities and local NGOs and runs educational workshops on the importance of long-term education, a clean and sustainable environment and gender equality to help children understand these global issues at an early stage in their lives.

Other projects include workshops teaching adults micro-enterprise skills to help them build small businesses and school renovations in rural areas of Nepal.

Bhavesh and his team have supported charities such as Barefoot College, which run educational programmes for children and adults in 92 countries worldwide; and Room to Read a global organisation focussed on improving literacy and gender equality in education.

Now they are planning to take their work a step further by setting up the Storyteller Foundation, a charity that will run alongside the business and work solely and directly in helping those less fortunate around the world access education.

“By setting up the Storyteller Foundation we can have a much wider impact and this way our customers can clearly see what the Storyteller brand is doing, it’s very transparent. I’ve really enjoyed the experience of setting up the Foundation and I’m excited to work on the education projects,” says the 34-year-old from Great Barr. Storyteller is also supporting children closer to home and will be working with education charity Ark to run careers and sports events in Birmingham.

“We wanted to give back to our own community and this is a great way for us to do that,” says Bhavesh.

Storyteller had the opportunity to spread awareness of its work by holding a pop-up shop in John Lewis in Oxford Street London in November.

“It was nice to be able to talk to customers and showcase our products and sell in store. As part of this we had recognised travel show presenters such as the BBC’s Carmen Roberts attend,” says Bhavesh, who received the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award for his work with Storyteller in 2021.

Storyteller products were also stocked at Bluewater Shopping Centre in the run-up to Christmas. It comes after FlagMate was named the best travel fashion accessory in the Global Retail Awards 2023, voted for by consumers.

“Last year, we were one of the finalists, so it was really nice to win the award, especially one that’s very consumer-focused,” says Bhavesh.

“The consumer is at the heart of everything we do here at Storyteller, and our FlagMate product is an example of our aim to help consumers celebrate and commemorate all of their travel memories,” he adds.

Storyteller will be exhibiting at Spring Fair, the UK’s biggest gift and home exhibition the NEC, Birmingham next year as part of its aim to be stocked in retail outlets such as airport shops.

“Some of the feedback we’ve had from customers is that they would love to be able to buy our product in every airport that they visit,” explains Bhavesh.

See www.storytellertravel.co.uk