From boyband starlet to Green Beret Commando, 45-year-old Farard Darver’s journey into business has been an unlikely one.

Farard was serving in Afghanistan when his vehicle hit a Taliban trap, injuring his left leg. He’s since undergone three operations, culminating in a total hip replacement.

But it was while trying to manage the pain that he stumbled across the product which would become central to his now £5 million-valued company, Healthcare International Research in Wimborne.

“Although I stayed in the army after the first two operations, I was never the same”, Farard explained.

“My best friend suggested trying CBD oil.

“He was living in the Czech Republic, where the healing effects of CBD were discovered in 1955 and it was really good.

“It actually worked. I’d tried everything else.

“After using CBD, I decided I had to leave and set up my own business. It was that good.”

In leaving the army, Farard gave up a promotion to Colonel and a full pension, investing his life savings into the new start-up.

“I even sold an Indian ring and bracelet my father had given me for my 18th and 21st birthdays.

“My house was at risk and I had a wife and two children. Then just as I launched, the business Covid came.”

It could have spelled disaster for the whole project, but customers were catching on.

Farard’s products come in two ranges – HEMPE, which provides natural relief for sore muscles, joints and inflamed skin, and MotherSage, a general skincare solution.

Where other CBD oils are ingested, these are topically absorbed through the skin via transdermal penetration, giving the business a USP which proved immediately popular.

“Over the last 18 months I’ve raised £1.3m, and I’ve turned down offers for the company.

“Natural, toxin-free products that actually work are what people want, and the proof of that is in the success of the business.

“Already I’m selling it right around the world.”

Three decades ago, Farard was envisioning a very different kind of worldwide fame.

After moving to Ireland at the age of 11 – following his father’s new job as a Ryanair pilot – Farard began singing with boybands Men2B and Area 4.

Though neither act properly took off, his brief musical career saw him supporting Westlife and plenty of other Irish stars, as well as making the charts.

Farard, centre, with Men2B

It was back in England that Farard made the switch to army life, attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and being commissioned into the Royal Logistic Corps.

“Getting injured in Afghanistan thwarted my ambition of joining the special forces”, he added.

“But I used the tools the army gave me to plan the business and launch it.”

And that’s where he finds himself today – at the head of an award-winning Dorset business.

• hir.global

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