I wasn’t the academic type - business and creativity were always where I found my strength. I left school with no formal qualifications, but I was hungry to get out there and do something real. While others were focused on exams, I was already thinking about how to build something of my own.

After seeing how powerful real conversations were in business, I launched an outsourced call centre. We handled calls and ran campaigns for SMEs - and soon started working with household names. It had to run 24/7, so in the early days, I worked round the clock - days, nights, and sleeping in the office between calls to make it happen.

This is when it all really began. We started what’s now i24 - working across multiple ventures, with outsourcing and marketing at the core. Back then, there wasn’t a name for what we were doing. Today - they (and we) call it a venture studio. It didn’t always look focused from the outside, but to us, there was clarity in the chaos.

With i24 mostly hands-off, I started getting restless - so I did the classic Brit-abroad thing and bought a bar. It had always been on the bucket list, and it felt like the dream. But the reality of running a hospitality business abroad hit fast. I had no experience (other than being a customer!), and profitability was a real challenge. A year later, I exited to new owners - grateful for the experience, and even more grateful to move on.

We started the year by adding another three new offices - including one in Delaware, US - and expanded our team with some incredible new people. i24 is a global 8-figure portfolio with over 50 team members. It’s taken vision, consistency, and a relentless drive to get here - and it still feels like we’re just getting started.