Entrepreneur honoured by King for braille business

A blind entrepreneur from Devon has described the pride of being honoured by the King as feeling like "a lion raised its head and roared on his chest".

Brandon Hulcoop, who started his firm making braille greetings cards from his mum's kitchen table, scooped the NatWest/Kings Trust Enterprise award - attending a reception at Buckingham Palace where he met HRH King Charles.

Mr Hulcoop, 23, from Plymouth, told the BBC: "I never really understood I was making such a difference.

"Then I go to the awards ceremony and get people coming up and saying it's a wonderful thing."

He added: "It's all been a bit of a surprise, it all happened because I was unemployed for so long, I went to the job centre and said 'all I need is one piece of kit so I can set up my own business'."

He said one phone call from the advisor later and he was in touch with the King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust), who helped him get set up.

He said his business All Things Dotty was about helping visually impaired people to "see the world with their fingers".

"It's opened a whole new world for visually impaired people," he added.

He said he was inspired initially by his own challenges reading greetings cards.

"I got frustrated...people would get me birthday and Christmas cards and I couldn't read them.

"I'd be hovering my phone over it to try and read it and in the end family would read them to me which was great, but I could only read them that once."

After searching for a solution, he found a gap in the market, and started to produce "tactile artwork".

Describing "big A4 things folded in half", he said the business had since been finessed, with personalised braille greetings cards featuring a range of designs now on sale, as well as colouring books, artwork, menus, and braille tuition.

Mr Hulcoop said he started using an embosser at home to create the cards, but he now has an office.

He said he had also completed a business diploma at a residential college "geared up" for visually impaired students.

"Look at me now compared to five years ago," he added.

"I always knew I wanted to be a braille teacher or do something in braille. I was led to believe the market was too small but now I know it's very very big," he added.

"I just want people to recognise the importance of braille.

"Having a braille menu promotes that independence, you can say to people 'you're welcome here'.

Thanking the customers and restaurants in Plymouth who supported him in the early days, he added: "Still getting support is magical for me as a person."

Mike Hogan, from Plymouth, who is a mentor with the King's Trust, said: "Brandon is so inspirational in that if he comes up against an obstacle he will always try to find ways around that obstacle to complete things himself before asking for help.

"Sometimes he does ask and I'm only too pleased to help. He's always treated his disability as an ability in that it's not holding him back at all.

"He likes to show other people if he can achieve this why can't they and he's all about accessibility and inclusion."

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