She beat Social Bite and Brewgooder founders to the title

An anti-period poverty pioneer has been named as Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

Celia Hodson, founder of Hey Girls, scooped the prestigious award, beating competition which included Josh Littlejohn of Social Bite and Alan Mahon of Brewgooder.

She received the accolade at the 2018 Summit Entrepreneurship Awards, which aims to shine a spotlight on Scotland’s innovators, visionaries and game-changers.

Hey Girls was launched in January 2018, selling menstrual products online using a buy one, give one model – meaning that for every box purchased, a box is given away to a girl or woman in need in the UK.

Since then, Hey Girls has donated in excess of 1,365,000 boxes of pads and tampons to people across the country.

In August, Hey Girls launched its products in 228 Asda and 80 Waitrose stores across the UK, following a £50,000 investment from Big Issue Invest’s Power Up programme enabling the social enterprise to upscale.

The company is also a major provider in the Scottish Government’s initiative to provide free sanitary products all pupils and students nationwide.

Hodson said: “What a surprise! Huge thanks go to our customers, who are simply amazing because they choose to buy from us and support our mission to eradicate period poverty in the UK.

“Without their sales and their support, we wouldn’t be able to donate products to women and girls in need - and this is really what Hey Girls is all about.

“I’d also like to thank the Hey Girls team and everyone who has been part of the Hey Girls story for getting us this far, with very special thanks to Big Issue Invest in particular for their ongoing support – we wouldn’t have been able to upscale to meet demand without their backing.”

The award follow the double success for Hodson at this month’s Women in Business Awards, where Hey Girls scooped Start Up Business of the Year, and Social Impact of the Year.