He included within his proposal an idea that seemed to him slightly far-fetched
He would eventually like to employ barbers directly, who would drive to clients in a van: mobile barber shops on wheels.
The prize was £10,000. To get his company up and running, he recruited a rival from the competition, a fellow student called Nana Darko, whose confident air had impressed him.
Darren promised to make Nana rich. He was similar to him, a young black man from south London with dreams of business success.
Together they pounded the streets of Brighton, signing up barbers to their new app – all barbers, not just the Afro-Caribbean ones.
There were constant problems with barbers not turning up on time at the salon. Negative customer feedback was building up. They also hadn’t figured out how to make any money from the platform.
As of this week, there are three vans in operation
The competition money had dried up and the app seemed ready to die a natural death in the app store.
Nana too was feeling bitterly disappointed. He had graduated with a first in engineering. But he was missing out at dozens of job interviews in the corporate world and he couldn’t figure out why. Was it the way he presented himself, the way he talked, or perhaps the colour of his skin?
They would focus on the side of the business that had at first seemed so implausible and try the idea of mobile barber vans – only this would allow them to control the whole customer experience.Read More »He included within his proposal an idea that seemed to him slightly far-fetched