Meet The Couple Who Started Hand Sanitiser Business 12 Weeks Ago And Set To Make £30M

Rachel and Andrew Montague

A British couple who established a hand sanitiser making business when lockdown was announced in the 1st quarter of 2020 are set to make £30 million (N14.6b) from their venture.

Andrew Montague, 47, and his wife Rachel, 48, who own a property investment and development company, have been developing commercial and affordable housing for the last 15 years.

The business started when the owner of Deeside Distillery got in touch with the couple in March to say he was stopping gin production and switching to sanitiser to help with the crisis, they jumped on board.

The couple, who have four children decided to stop work on their developments and lend a hand.

Their business, ClearWater Hygiene, produces high grade hand sanitiser aimed at frontline workers and the wider public.

The business has since expanded and now has the capacity to produce more than 900,000 litres of its product every week.

The product contains 80 per cent ethanol liquid making it suitable for use in hospitals, care homes and other public health facilities.

ClearWater Hygiene has now secured major contracts with corporate customers including the Post Office, JD plc, O2 Retail, BP, and Aldi, some of which are multi-year agreements, with an expected total contract value of £30m (N14.6b).

The couple have already made more than £3million in actual revenue since their business launched in March.

They have also donated significant quantities of their products to UK National Health Service (NHS) charities.

Andrew and Rachel Montague now employ 12 full-time staff and a eight contracted workers at ClearWater Hygiene’s headquarters in Leith, Edinburgh, and in other parts of Scotland and the UK.

Speaking on how the business started, Andrew Montague said;

"As lockdown was being announced in March, we immediately saw the importance of reducing our reliance on imports and focusing on UK manufacturing.

We ensured both health providers and private businesses could access high quality and fairly priced products which are now essential in the battle against the pandemic".

He added;

"We are proud to be providing some much-needed support in the fight against Covid-19 by gifting our product to NHS charities while, at the same time, building a successful business. From a standing start just 12 weeks ago, we have seen a huge surge in demand for our products across the UK".

The couple not only identified a market opportunity but have also helped address some of the essential supply issues in combating COVID-19 in the UK.