Ecommerce entrepreneur Joe Waggott has WON first place and scooped a £30,000 prize in this year’s Stelios Award for disabled entrepreneurs in the UK.
Joe owns Metal Polishing Supplies UK Ltd, the UK’s leading supplier of professional and DIY metal polishing products. Arriving in the UK from Zimbabwe in 2005 with just £35 in his pocket he has built the business from scratch, selling kits and accessories through Amazon, eBay and his website – metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk. We first wrote about Joe when he won an eBay for Business Award in 2017, and his is a really inspirational story.
Joe has worked PHL Group for many years – they provide his business with expert fulfilment support, essential for Joe to enable him to concentrate on growth. PHL Group told us how incredibly proud of his fantastic achievement they are.
We are incredibly proud of Joe’s achievement and thrilled our fulfilment services continue to help this fantastic business grow
– Laura Palmer, Business Development Director, PHL Group
The Stelios Awards is the brainchild of EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and leading disability charity Leonard Cheshire. The award aims to recognise individuals who overcome the challenges of a disability to become successful business owners. The award is primarily judged on commercial astuteness and financial performance, focusing on the entrants’ achievements and not their disability.
Joe was born with Spina Bifida and has limited mobility, requiring a walking stick or wheelchair to get around and sometimes working from the confines of his bed. Ecommerce offers Joe the flexibility to develop and grow sales from anywhere if he has a laptop and internet connection.
Joe believes that one of the essential drivers of his ongoing success is partnering with PHL Group, which manages his customer support and order fulfilment across multiple sales channels. Their purpose-built Order Management System (OMS) gives Joe the accessibility to manage his business remotely whilst PHL fulfilment experts take care of day-to-day logistics.
Winning first place for the Stelios Awards for Disabled Entrepreneurs 2022 is a great achievement for me and Metal Polishing Supplies UK Ltd and offers an excellent opportunity for further development and future business growth.
PHL Group has been key to the success of MPS as it stands today with their continued support and development of the business allowing me time to be able to work on the business instead of in the business.
– Joe Waggott , Metal Polishing Supplies UK
Using his prize money, Joe has ambitions to invest in video content marketing and create a range of own-brand tools.
