The Chronicle, Spring 2019

18 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

RAW Potential On the edge of a neat residential area in south east Oxford, OSE Rick Mower’s thriving business, RAW, is advertised with a vivid, neon-pink sign. The more one discovers about the company’s ethos, the more it becomes clear that the idea behind this business is as bold as its branding.

In the large, modern workshop, RAW’s team manufacture and hand-craft a range of robust, high-quality products – from shelf units to outdoor garden and parks furniture, and from office desks to dining tables. They also offer design services and bespoke units for pubs, cafés, restaurants, shops and businesses. Outside, there’s another part of the RAW enterprise, a booming waste wood collection and recycling service which serves an ever growing number of local and national house builders and developers. Finally, in a beautifully renovated barn, there is a retail outlet selling a huge range of reclaimed wood and timber. The services and products are impressive, but it is the company’s ethos and workforce that set it apart. Rick shaped his business around his strong personal respect for people who have survived some extremely challenging journeys in life and his passion is to create businesses that hardwire social and environmental outcomes into the core of everything they do. RAW actively seeks to employ and train people who face prejudice and barriers to work with the aim of enabling them ‘to be exceptional rather than being the exception’. Over 75% of the team is made up of people who have faced, or are facing, issues such as mental health illness, recovery from addiction, criminal histories and physical or learning difficulties. There is plenty of support for employees, or ‘Crew’ as they are called at RAW, but there are also high expectations. Rick proudly describes his team as ‘the best workforce in Oxford’ as he points to a list on the wall of the key principles of his ethos which include: be on time, be willing to do more, put in effort, be prepared, be energetic, only produce work you would be happy to give to your Mum .... As Rick says, you don’t need a degree to be able to embrace these important attitudes. Rick and his Crew expect their commercial clients to judge RAW on the quality, service

and value they provide. They are efficient and competitive – but are also able to offer more value in the shape of social and environmental impact. The Conduit, an exclusive private members’ club in Mayfair, and Oxford Brookes University, both recent RAW customers, will have received reports summarising the social impact hours their orders created, and the carbon emissions saved by the use of recycled materials. Other high profile clients have included Blenheim Palace, Garden Trading, Oxford City Council and numerous other local business and private customers. Making buying decisions that add value beyond the product or service itself is increasingly important for businesses, educational establishments and organisations of all kinds. ‘Although this might surprise people, there are ways in which we work at RAW, and my days at Teddies and The Dragon, that are very similar’, says Rick. ‘At school, I loved the feeling of being part of a ‘tribe’ – in my rugby team, for instance, and as part of my House and the close-knit community. It gave me context and values. One of our core beliefs at RAW is that, just as bees need a hive, humans need a tribe. This sense of belonging and shared endeavour is what RAW offers to many of our Crew: we look after each other, we push each other on, we share the same values, and we’re proving – by the quality of what we do - that nobody should be judged by their life history or condition. We can all Be Exceptional.’ For more details about RAW, its services and its wider impact, visit  www.raw-workshop.co.uk or email rick@raw-workshop.co.uk . Rick and his team have just taken on a project to create a bench from an Ash tree felled to make way for the new Quad Development; we look forward to reporting on progress in future issues.