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| 11 Jan 2022 | |
| General |
| University of Leeds Network, Former Staff, 50s Alumni, 60s Alumni, 90s Alumni, 40s Alumni, 00s Alumni, 80s Alumni, 70s Alumni |
We were thrilled to announce at our Old Waconian's Association AGM on 27 November 2021 that our Old Waconians' Association President from January 2022 will be Nik Basran, Class of 1998.
Nik left Cheadle Hulme School in 1998 to complete a degree in German and Management at the University of Leeds. Following a short stint travelling he joined his family business, The Authentic Food Co., in 2003.
Nik is now CEO of The Authentic Food Co. He is a second generation family business leader, taking over the company from his parents, who started the company from their kitchen in 1985 when Nik was 5 years old.
His biggest challenge to date has been buying out the family business during a recession in 2008, while his biggest achievement was launching the Beyond Meat brand in the UK & Ireland in 2018 and doubling the sales every year since. Beyond Meat is the largest plant based meat company in the world based in LA and is backed by Bill Gates and Leonardo di Caprio among others.
Nik employs 200 people in his Manchester head office and is proud to work with the Manchester United Foundation supplying food to 26 schools around the Greater Manchester area. Building on the work started by Marcus Rashford’s school meals campaign, last Christmas The Authentic Food Co. provided 65,000 meals and plans to do much more in the future.
At CHS Nik was Captain of the First XV Rugby team. Since leaving he has returned to the School to speak to pupils about his journey in business.
We look forward to working with Nik during his Presidency over the next two years.
Hear from Nik Basran, speaking at our Old Waconians' London Social on 3 March 2022.
