19-year-old Indian-origin teenager Akshay Ruparelia has become a sensation in the UK after media highlighted his success story of how he set up his real estate business between school lessons in London.
A student at Queen Elizabeth High School in Barnet, London, Ruparelia completed his A levels last year scoring three A*s and 2 As even as he juggled clients during the lunch break.
Nicknamed ‘Alan Sugar’ after business tycoon Baron Sugar, Ruparelia, told , his ‘light bulb’ moment came when he read a biography of Ryanair founder Michael O’Leary.
“Mr O’ Leary began by selling flights for just £4.99 and his point was that if you deliver what you say you will, you hook people in and your business will work,” said Akshay.
Akshay applied that logic to his business idea and launched his online real estate business, Doorsteps, by offering to sell houses for just £99.
Soon after he launched his website, he was approached by a client in Sussex who wanted to sell his home and a separate piece of land next to his house.
“I had to pay my sister’s boyfriend £40 to drive me to take photographs of this man’s house. I had not passed my driving test, I did not have a car. It was a five bed place with a swimming pool! I put the house on at £485,000 and the land for £185,000 on top, I had sold it within three weeks.
“I was standing in the school playground and got an e-mail on my mobile from the vendor to say he had accepted the combined £670,000 offer I had got for him and that I was a ‘legend, an absolute star’.
“That was a sensational moment, I was just thrilled. I’d sold a house for £99, but I could not go out and celebrate, I had to go home and revise for my exams. I got a Domino’s pizza in as a treat.”
Today he has over 1,050 homes for sale on his web site, selling around 30 a week.
In a year’s time, Akshay’s firm has employed 12 people and has been valued at £12 million in a recent funding round, reports.
He has also raised almost £400,000 with around 500 investors via Crowdcube in return for just over 3% of his business.
He also has deployed a unique employment model where he has hired self-employed mothers who take photos for the website and show the properties to clients across UK.
As a child of two deaf parents, Akshay has long known the art of managing family finances.
His father works with Royal Mail sorting office and his mother is a teaching assistant for deaf children and a support worker for deaf children with Camden Council.
