ENTREPRENEUR: I purchased my first business at the age of 15 with capital borrowed from my mother. In the first few months after taking over the business I embarked on a business development initiative which was su (...)

How did the entrepreneurial spirit rise up in you? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship in your family or your social environment when you were a child?

Whohub

Darren Ferneyhough [darrenferneyhough]

I purchased my first business at the age of 15 with capital borrowed from my mother. In the first few months after taking over the business I embarked on a business development initiative which was successful in quickly doubling the turnover and profitability and also enabled the repayment of the initial borrowed capital.

This success brought with it some challenges, so the next step was to re-organise the logistics and expand the workforce to both handle the additional workload and maintain customer service levels.

A year after acquisition the business was much more streamlined and profitable and with a desire to move on to other projects I negotiated a deal to give ownership and control of the business to 2 key employees and sold it for twice the amount originally paid just a year earlier.