Shortlisted. And a little bit stunned.
I got an email this morning that genuinely stopped me in my tracks.
I've been shortlisted for Consumer Entrepreneur of the Year at the Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2026. South East region. The Gala Final is at Grosvenor House on Park Lane in November, and apparently it's the biggest night in UK entrepreneurship.
I'm still processing it, to be honest.
How did I get here?
The short version is that I've been building a sleep brand called Martian Made for the past few years, selling primarily on Amazon and growing a direct-to-consumer presence through our own website. Pillows, pillow protectors, sleep accessories. The kind of products most people don't think about until they're lying awake at 2am wishing they'd thought about them sooner.
The longer version involves a lot more chaos, a lot of sleepless nights (and yes, I appreciate the irony of that), and more than a few moments where I genuinely didn't know if we were going to make it through.
Here's the thing about building a brand. Nobody really tells you how hard the middle bit is. Everyone talks about the exciting start, the idea, the launch. And then they skip to the success. The messy middle, where you're firefighting cash flow, navigating Amazon's ever-changing rules, managing suppliers on the other side of the world, and trying to keep the whole thing moving forward at the same time, that bit doesn't make the highlight reel.
But that's where the real work happens. And honestly, that's where you find out what you're made of.
The sleep apnea thing
There's a reason I ended up in sleep as a category, beyond the business opportunity. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a few years ago. For anyone who doesn't know what that means, it means I stop breathing in my sleep. Repeatedly. My body wakes itself up each time, and I never get the deep, restorative sleep that most people take completely for granted.
The fix is a CPAP machine. A mask you wear every single night, attached to a device that pumps air to keep your airway open. It's uncomfortable, it's unglamorous, and there is no cure. This is a for-life thing.
That, strangely, is what turned Martian Made from a business into something that feels more like a mission. I will never sleep perfectly. So I became obsessed with making sure everyone else could.
Every pillow we design, every product we develop, every review we read, I'm looking at it through the lens of someone who genuinely understands what it means to not sleep well. It's not just a product category to me. It's personal.
What this shortlisting means
I'm not going to pretend I'm not pleased. I absolutely am. Being recognised at this level, alongside some genuinely impressive founders from across the South East, is a landmark moment for me personally and for the business.
But more than the award itself, what it represents is this: the work is being seen.
You can spend years heads-down, building something you believe in, quietly doing the work, and wondering whether any of it is registering beyond your own four walls. A moment like this is a reminder that it is. That the story you're telling, and the product you're putting out into the world, is standing up to scrutiny from people who see thousands of applications.
That matters.
What's next
November. Grosvenor House. Black tie. I'll be in the room with some brilliant people, and I'm genuinely looking forward to it.
Win or lose, we keep building.
Eddie Yu
Founder, EDCAN Ltd / Martian Made