A CALSTOCK entrepreneur has been crowned winner of the small business of the year award at the West Country Women Awards 2022.

Sam Jackman, co-founder and managing director of a company that makes prosthetic breasts, received the award at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Plymouth  last Thursday evening in recognition of her business which she started from her garage in Calstock in 2018.

This month, Sam was also placed in the top ten on the Daily Telegraph and Natwest’s 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch list, which have recently seen her invited to London to attend ceremonies and business networking events with other like-minded and talented entrepreneurs.

Sam’s ideas for Boost, which develops shaped breast forms, came after her mum Susan had a masectomy following breast cancer who then found a more traditional prothesis uncomfortable. Sam quickly got to work in her garage, designing a silicone shape which was more comfortable, breatheable and appropriately shaped. During the initial design process, she received advice from the Primrose Breast Care Centre at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

Sam said: ‘My Mum found the traditional prothesis products were hot, heavy and sweaty so she decided not to wear them. I looked around for something that would suit her better, but most of the products were very similar and she didn’t like any of them. Eventually, I teamed up with a former colleague and and the idea for the Boost came to life!

‘The last two weeks have been an amazing experience. The best part of receiving the award on Thursday was when another award winner was up on stage and revealed her Boost prothesis to everyone and gave us a shoutout. I couldn’t believe it! I felt great pride in going to London too, having lunch with the CEO of NatWest and attending another bank where the Queen did her banking - my Mum found that quite funny.’

Sam started her career in teaching and then later worked in museums, never having evisioned she would one day be a business owner. After receiving investment last year, Sam has gone from strength to strength.

Sam said: ‘I’m really proud of Boost’s journey from a side-hustle to a business that now has customers around the world. I didn’t start my career thinking that I was going to be an entrepreneur, so it’s been a big learning curve for me. We’re still based in Calstock where we started which means it’s important to continue spreading the word so more and more people know that we exist and that they can benefit from our products. We just want women to know that we’re here.

‘That’s traditionally a barrier as a smaller company, we have to ensure money is spent on crafting a quality product instead of spending masses on social media advertising. Word of mouth and personal recommendation bring us forward and we’re naturally always scaling up to reach more people, not just at home in Cornwall but across the UK too.

‘Since starting just over four years ago, we’ve branched out to America, Canada and Australia - where in the latter we have a new partner.’