A 19 year old Entrepreneur who launched an eBay business from his bedroom with only £500 now owns a £1 million turnover company at 26. Ben Ewart began selling through his eBay shop as a teen and grew it into a million pound company in just 7 years according to hull live.
Switch Electronics which sells a range of components including sensors, wires and fuses was made successful by Ben who found a gap in the market where he could sell components from China at a cheaper price than competing UK retailers such as Maplin. RIP Maplin.
“I was 19 when I began importing a few bits from China, and selling them on eBay. I think I started out with about £500 in my pocket.
“The original aim was to be a professional golfer, and was doing this in my spare time. It eventually got to a point where it was expanding so fast that the other job I was doing became a bit redundant.
“When I was 21, I got my first warehouse space in Beverley, and it grew from there.”
– Ben Ewart, Founder, Switch Electronics
How did Ben grow his eBay business this big?
Ben states that because his stock comes directly from the manufacturers rather than wholesalers he gets the products a lot cheaper, for that reason he was able to grow a considerably profitable company fairly quickly. Today the company employs 5 people selling goods through their website, eBay, Amazon and their physical site located in Hull. Ben has clear aspirations to take Switch Electronics even further by moving to a bigger complex and eventually reaching a turnover of between £10 – £15 million. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs was to ‘just go for it’ and he is especially keen to see more teens starting businesses believing it to be the perfect time with less to lose and more room for risk.
2 Responses
Many congratulations Ben Ewart. Goes to show that hard work and perseverance pay off. You’re a great example to every winging individual who feels disadvantaged because of their laziness. May you grow and grow by not following Maplin or Tandy’s mistakes.
Well done Ben, just keep sucking up those SNAD claims and jumping through ebays hoops and you’ll be fine.
Alternatively, if your a real entrepreneur, you might wish to find a route to market without losing a minimum of 12% of your turnover to eBay. Just a thought….