Member Article

Teenage businessman gets Dragon’s approval

A Teenage entrepreneur is hoping to capitalise on the backing of millionaire businessman and TV personality Theo Paphitis.

Luke Robertson owns Wallchimp, an online business selling wall stickers for the home and office, which he set up after leaving sixth form college last year.

The young businessman launched Wallchimp in October of last year and has watched it steadily develop from an Ebay venture to a growing organisation with over 600 customers.

And his business has now caught the eye of Dragon’s Den investor Theo Paphitis in his weekly Twitter chats, so much so he invited him onto his Small Business Winners programme and Tweeted about Luke to his 340,000 plus followers.

Luke, 19, from Hartlepool said: “I use social media a lot to promote the business and follow Theo Paphitis on Twitter. He holds an online chat with small businesses between 5-7.30pm every Sunday night using the hashtag #SBS.

“He chooses six businesses from all of the Tweets and as an #SBS winner you get his seal of approval and you get your business on the front page of his website. You’re also invited to meetings and talks and can access help through his website and speak to other Small Business Sunday winners.

“I was over the moon he selected Wallchimp. My website hits immediately went up by 600 per cent and my Twitter went mental. I’m seeing sales increase from all of the online PR too!”

Luke left English Martyrs School with 11 GCSEs grades A’s and B’s before heading to sixth form college where he attained A* grades in A-Level Product Design, Graphic Design and Photography. But instead of heading off to university he decided to go straight into running his own business.

And he believes he made the right decision. Luke said: “I have no mortgage commitments or loans hanging over my head so I can focus on the business. I love being my own boss and couldn’t imagine working for anyone else. I learn so much by running a business hands-on and for me it has been the right decision to go straight into it.”

Luke hopes to grow Wallchimp internationally and is confident it will be the first of many businesses he gets up and running.

He added: “I’d love to live in America one day and hope to see Wallchimp grow and grow. Now I have gained experience of running a business I am always on the look-out for other opportunities.”

To see Wallchimp’s extensive range of wall art stickers or for bespoke inquiries visit www.wallchimp.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Publicity Seekers PR .