Growing FMCG brands win on trust. Behind every bold product launch, every retailer partnership and every purpose-led mission sits one unglamorous but essential engine: governance.
Most founders don’t think about it until they have to.
Nekta Drinks decided to get ahead of it.
Nekta – a UK-based premium alcohol-free cocktail brand infused with adaptogens and built on cultural authenticity – is growing fast. Their mission, “Cheers without any tears,” is rooted in inclusion, wellbeing and community. But with growth came greater responsibility: supplier due diligence, data protection, partner assurance, and the expectations of major retail buyers.
They chose Protects to help them build a governance foundation that matched their ambition, without slowing down their creativity.
The Challenge: Culture-Driven, Fast Growing, and Facing Rising Risk
As Nekta scaled, their operational footprint expanded across multiple fronts:
- Ingredient sourcing
- Production partners
- Logistics and distribution
- Retail partnerships
- Direct-to-consumer channels
Each added a layer of risk:
- Supplier compliance
• Data protection obligations
• Brand reputation
• Evidence requests from partners and retailers
Like many purpose-led startups, Nekta was built on creativity and momentum, not formal governance. Policies lived in scattered locations. Training was ad-hoc. Risk tracking was informal. And with an emerging brand profile, the margin for error was shrinking.
Any partner request for evidence – ISO-aligned policies, supplier assessments, cyber training logs – risked taking days rather than minutes. And in FMCG, slow governance slows growth.
Nekta needed a way to:
✔ Centralise policies
✔ Assess and own risks
✔ Track supplier responsibilities
✔ Ensure staff were trained
✔ Respond instantly to due-diligence
✔ Do it without redirecting creative energy or founder bandwidth
The Solution: A Governance Framework That Scales With the Brand
Nekta implemented Protects across three core modules: the Document Hub, the Risk Engine, and the Learning Zone.
1. Policy & Document Hub – instant access to ISO-aligned governance
Nekta used Protects’ library of templates to adopt best-practice policies, then customised and approved them through the platform.
All version-control, reviews and updates now live in one place.
2. Risk Engine – complete visibility across the supply-chain
Protects centralised every operational risk:
- Supplier data exposure
- Ingredient sourcing
- Production dependencies
- Logistics and fulfilment
- Brand and reputation risks
Each risk now has an owner, status and mitigation plan, visible to leadership at a glance.
3. Learning Zone – 100% staff training, automated
Every team member completed cyber-awareness and data-protection training, with automated reminders and dashboards to track progress.
This removed manual follow-ups and ensured Nekta could prove staff compliance instantly.
4. Evidence in minutes, not days
With Protects, Nekta can now respond to retailer or partner due-diligence requests with a few clicks – a major credibility boost when negotiating new listings or partnerships.
Protects didn’t bolt governance onto the business.
It embedded it into the brand identity.
The Results: Compliance as a Strength – Not a Burden
Within weeks, Nekta achieved:
✔ 100% training completion
Evidence-ready logs replaced spreadsheets and manual checks.
✔ Centralised risk and supplier dashboards
Leadership gained total visibility and control instead of fragmented oversight.
✔ Instant due-diligence responses
Credibility was strengthened with partners and suppliers, helping support future retail listings and negotiations.
For a brand founded on culture, trust and purpose, these improvements weren’t just operational.
They were strategic.
“Protects gave us the confidence we needed to prove our governance and focus on our brand, not paperwork.”
– Navraj Dhesi, Founder, Nekta Drinks
The Outcome: Governance That Powers Growth
Nekta now carries compliance as a competitive advantage.
Their operational discipline matches their creative ambition, giving them the confidence to scale nationally and globally without hidden governance gaps slowing them down.
With Protects embedded into their daily workflow, the brand can stay agile, innovative and purpose-driven – while meeting the expectations of retail buyers, suppliers and partners.
Compliance isn’t slowing Nekta down.
It’s powering their credibility.
Want to Build a Governance Foundation as Strong as Nekta’s?
Start your free Protects trial and see how quickly you can centralise policies, risks, training and supplier governance.
👉 Start your free trial → https://app.protects.co/register