Broke to £400K: Meet the Young Entrepreneurs Thriving During COVID
3 years ago, Connor Watt (25) and Joe Housley (26) graduated from Aston University and started their own video production business after realising there was a gap in the market for a progressive videography company that does things differently. Despite only having £250 of initial investment from an enterprise competition they won at university, Narce Media has thrived during COVID and grown to expected turnovers of £400k this year.
In less than 2 years of starting the business, Narce was shortlisted for the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards for the ‘Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year’ category due to its exponential growth, beating thousands of other companies. ”From embarking on this business with nothing and getting to a point where we were being nominated for awards so quickly felt incredible.” said Connor. Their success was possible due to Joe and Connor’s relentless work ethos; they often worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week as well as working part-time in a call centre and as a chef to get the business off the ground.
Narce has worked with renowned companies such as Santander, Aston Villa and TEDx, with some of their videos receiving millions of views:
They have delved into some exciting new projects over the past year, such as ‘Unleashed Pictures’. This is a documentary focused division aimed at unleashing the power of the storytelling of hard hitting topics, such as the inspiring activism of Gen Z. Joe said, “Over the last few years of building connections and experience, I feel like now is the perfect moment to launch Unleashed Pictures. I’m super excited to be working on a number of documentary projects that are sure to get people thinking.”
Narce has continued to thrive during COVID where many other companies have struggled; the company has now grown to 8 employees, 5 of which were hired in the last 3 months. This was thanks to the Kickstart Scheme, which provides funding to create new 6-month jobs for 16-24 year olds who are on Universal Credit and are at risk of long term unemployment, making the entire team of young creatives 26 and under. “I think this is the perfect company to work at as a recent graduate,” said Michael, a Business Development intern. ” I’ve learnt so much in the past few months and I would love to stay here after the Kickstart Scheme ends”. They have also recently moved to a new office in Birmingham to accommodate for the growing team. Jay, a Videography intern, stated that “I couldn’t ask for better colleagues. The atmosphere is great and I’m grateful to be a part of the team,”.
The future looks bright for Narce as they continue to grow their workforce, clientele and services to take the video production industry by storm.
To find out more, go to www.narcemedia.com or visit any of their social media accounts.
