A Birmingham teenager has gone from selling sweets in the school playground to building a company worth GBP 1 million in less than five years.

PRESS DISPENSARY - Wednesday, Nov 11, 2009 - A Birmingham teenager has gone from selling sweets in the school playground to building a company worth £1 million in less than five years. Swimming against the tide of stories about young people out of work – and in trouble – 18-year-old Matt Lovett established internet marketing company WOW Media (http://www.wowmedia.eu ) in 2007. The group now operates more than 20 websites, employs six people and has a monthly turnover in excess of £25,000.

Matt may be just 18 but he’s an old hand when it comes to business, having set up his first – a school sweet shop – aged 12. A regular user of online cashback sites, Matt believed he could create a better service so, using savings and sweet shop profits, started British Rewards (http://www.britishrewards.co.uk ) from his bedroom while revising for his GSCEs.

Whilst he left school with only 3 GCSEs, the site is still running today, with over 200,000 registered members.

It was the beginning of Matt’s collection of cashback websites, offering online shoppers promotional discounts, vouchers and cashback on goods and services by household names and high street favourites, from Argos and Asda to Dell and Dixons. The sites typically offer up to 70% discount on standard listed prices, with retailers paying to advertise their wares, generating sales and gaining new customers.

Matt’s success heralds a bright future for British business. This year, he won the Daily Mail’s Enterprising Young Brits competition and was presented with the award by Alistair Darling.

Matt says: “I’m inspired by free-thinking entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Peter Jones, both of whom were running successful business ventures in their teens. Building a business at such a young age does mean sacrificing things most teenagers take for granted, but having your company valued at £1 million at the age of 18 makes it all worthwhile. Branson had better watch out!”

The Wow Media stable includes 10 WOW-branded sites, including the popular WOW Voucher Codes and WOW Cashback, and web and design services WOW Hosting and WOW Banners, as well as non-WOW branded sites British Rewards, Trienta Affiliates and Your Brand.

Collectively, the sites boast members in more than 250 countries, including more than 300,000 UK subscribers, 35,000 in Australia and 24,000 in Sweden.

Matt adds: “By tapping into the public’s desire to hunt down the best discounts during the downturn my business has not only survived a recession but benefitted from it!”

Notes for editors

Birmingham-based WOW Media UK was established in 2007 and employs six people. The internet marketing group operates more than 10 websites encompassing a range of services including telecoms, marketing and finance, whilst also offering an affiliate advertising network, enabling advertisers to promote to their target customers by specific subject areas, such as shopping, computers and leisure.

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