UK CBD Startup HEMPE Earns Prestigious NSF Certification
HEMPE, the UK Brand, has recently received the NSF Certification for its CBD gel.
NSF, a global organization operating across 170 countries, manages the certification, ensuring that hemp products meet high safety, public health, and environmental standards.
The certification marks the CBD gel as the first topical product to earn this prestigious status after about two years of stringent testing and evaluation.
Young professional athletes and armed forces are allowed to use it. It is particularly significant for military personnel and athletes because they are required to follow strict guidelines on the products they apply or consume.
Farard Darver, a former boyband star and commando, started the HEMPE brand after surviving an injury in Afghanistan. The commando had to survive on OTC painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen, which were not as effective and had inflammatory properties.
Soon after his injury, Darver began to seek side effects-free alternatives to these traditional painkillers. It led him to discover the anti-inflammatory properties of CBD or Cannabidiol, which is a naturally occurring compound found in the cannabis plant.
The plant has numerous benefits including pain relief, improved sleep, anxiety and stress reduction, and protection of skin health.
This discovery motivated Darver to leave his post in the military and invest in developing HEMPE. Darver has highlighted that many CBD products may fail drug tests done on them to confirm presence of THC, but HEMPE’s CBD gel is certified to be safe.
In fact, the product is already used by athletes in different sports, such as motorsport, MMA, rugby, cricket, strongman, and football. Few athletes such as West Ham United player Tomáš Souček have been using HEMPE’s CBD gel. Tomáš Souček has pointed out the importance of using a safe product for professional athletes, and trusts HEMPE’s product before and after training to speed up his recovery. The gel is exceptionally useful to athletes and comes in both hot and cold versions.
The company is in conversations with the Premiership and Major League sports teams across the world, which indicates potential growth and a wider acceptance of HEMPE’s products in professional sports.
Vishal Vivek
Vishal Vivek is the Founder and CEO of Ukhi, a pioneering bio-materials company dedicated to ending plastic pollution by converting agricultural waste into high-performance compostable polymers. With a background in sustainable entrepreneurship and over a decade of technology experience, he leads Ukhi’s vision to create scalable, planet-positive material solutions. Previously, Vishal founded the Hemp Foundation, where he empowered more than 1,000 farmers and advanced sustainable livelihood initiatives. His work has been recognized through awards such as the HDFC Parivartan Grant and featured in leading publications like Forbes and Entrepreneur. Times Group recognized him as a legendary entrepreneur and published his biography in “I Did IT- Vol 2” alongside social pioneers like Bindeshwar Pathak (Sulabh International) and Anshu Gupta (Goonj). Vishal has authored more than 200 articles on sustainability and hemp, reflecting his deep expertise and advocacy for regenerative solutions. His commitment to grassroots impact led him to live in the remote mountains of Uttarakhand, where he immersed himself in the lives of marginal farmers, understanding their challenges and co-creating economic opportunities through hemp-based initiatives. A deeply passionate innovator, Vishal often draws inspiration from seemingly impossible achievements: “If Elon Musk can make rockets reusable, or Dashrath Manjhi can carve a path through a mountain with rudimentary tools, why can’t we eliminate the demon of single-use plastic while uplifting struggling farmers? We will make it happen—whatever it takes.” Ukhi is proud to be supported by premier institutions including IIT Guwahati, NSRCEL-IIM Bangalore, Indian School of Business (Hyderabad), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR Pusa), and the Indian Institute of Packaging. Vishal is committed to demonstrating that business can be a powerful catalyst for global environmental and social good. Connect with Vishal Vivek
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