Ben Towers

Ben Towers collecting his award as Young Entrepreneur of The Year

Ben Towers (born 2 September 1998) is a British entrepreneur,[1] public speaker,[2][3] investor, and television personality. He was named 'smartest kid on the planet' by The Times on its Super Teen Power List[4] for the success he had with his digital marketing agency, he founded when he was 11.[5] Towers is a Christian and is regularly seen attending Hillsong Church in London.

Early life

Ben Towers was born in Gillingham, Kent and attended St Mary's island Primary School. After this Towers joined Rainham Mark Grammar School. From a young age Towers played table tennis in a competitive environment. At the age of 11, Towers started his own business,[6] a digital marketing agency that specialises in helping businesses market to young people through social media.[7] After being told to "stop running your business as it will not provide you with a living" by his school tutor, Towers found other routes of education and settled on being the first ever business owner to employ themselves as an apprentice. This meant that Towers could focus on his business full time as well as keeping within the laws of being in education until you are 18 in the UK.[8][9] Towers has earned recognition from some of the most influential business owners around the world including Richard Branson[10] who named Towers as "one of the UKs most exciting entrepreneurs".[11][12][13]

Career

Ben Towers hosting the Young Enterprise National Finals with Steph McGovern

At the age of 11, Towers was tasked with designing a website for a family friend (which is still accessible here).[14] He then became a freelance designer trading under the name BDTWebsiteDesign on peopleperhour. As a freelance designer, Towers worked on websites for people all over the world, but had to hide his age to gain people's trust as a young designer. In 2013, he set up Towers Design initially as a web design company. Tower's skillset grew and he was able to offer more services such as graphic design and print to become a more rounded marketing agency.

Whilst still in school he hired his first employee initially as a freelancer. As work increased he was able to offer his freelancer a full-time position in the company. At the age of 16,[15] Towers left school to run his own business full time.[16] Due to UK law, being that you must be in at least part-time[17] education until the age of 18, he hired himself as an apprentice to be able to run his own business.[18]

Despite being a director, Towers was also an apprentice meaning that up until the age of 18, he was still having to take formal exams[19] as part of his apprenticeship despite running "one of the most successful digital marketing agencies in the country".[20] Towers Design reached to a point of having a team of 26 with over 1000 clients (a large majority were printing work), working with some of the world's most prolific brands[21] such as Pot Noodle, Mazars LLP, Twitter, Wolters Kluwer, Champneys and UK Government. In March 2017 Ben agreed a merger with another marketing agency, Zest The Agency. The deal resulted in a multiple million pound value and having successfully completed the merger Towers exited the business in September 2017.[22]

Following exiting the business, Towers now does a lot of public speaking at events across the world[23].

TV and Radio Career

Ben Towers recording the Southpaw TV show with Hillsong
Ben has appeared in a variety of TV shows including:
TV Show Date Aired Shows Towers' Role
BBC Breakfast[24] 29/12/2015 1 Towers was interviewed by Steph McGovern about his business journey
BBC South-East News 1 Interviewee
ITV Meridian 1 Interviewee
Pocket Money Pitch[25] 08/02/2016 9 Business Budy
Channel 4 News 1 Interviewee
Can Britain Afford A Pay Rise[26] 17/10/2016 1 Panelist
BBC Question Time 06/04/2017 1 Placed member
Southpaw by Hillsong TBA 6 Panelist

Other activities

At the age of 15,[27] Ben set up his second business, Social Marley,[28] a management tool targeting businesses trying to grow their following on social media. As Towers Design and Social Marley continue to grow Ben is passionate about engaging and helping young people to set up their own businesses by offering his advice[29] and experience when speaking at events and schools worldwide.[30] Ben is now helping young people starting their own businesses at a young age by being a celebrity ambassador for Bullies Out. In 2015 Ben joined Young Startup Talent as an ambassador eventually becoming a director at the end of 2015. Ben is also passionate about helping out charities and other causes as a celebrity ambassador. Ben became a celebrity ambassador for Dog's Trust after he adopted his dog Marley from a rescue centre. Ben is also passionate about helping rescue dogs find a new home and so regularly visits the Dog's Trust centres and promotes them online. In December 2016 Ben resigned as a director so that he could focus on his ambassadorial commitments with Dogs' Trust, Bullies out and Young Enterprise.

References

  1. ↑ Dunsby, Megan. "Young Entrepreneurs: Ben Towers, Towers Design | Startups.co.uk: Starting a business advice and business ideas". Startups.co.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "UK entrepreneurs top 100: From Richard Branson to Edwina Dunn, these are the most influential business founders in the UK on social media | City A.M". City A.M. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  3. ↑ Sara Meij (25 May 2015). "Child genius: entrepreneurs under 18". Upstart Magazine. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "Ben Towers – Named the 'Most powerful teen on the planet'". Innovation Centre Medway. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Superteen power list has a new leader". Journolink.com. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  6. ↑ Par Fabiola Dor. "Les 10 comptes Twitter à suivre quand on s'intéresse aux startups – Les Echos Start". Les Échos. France. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  7. ↑ Abby Young-Powell (1 January 1970). "How we did it: Young entrepreneurs on starting their business | QuickBooks partner zone". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  8. ↑ "School leaving age". Government of the United Kingdom. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  9. ↑ 5 January 2016 at (5 January 2016). "Teenage entrepreneur employs himself as an apprentice to avoid education rules | Meridian – ITV News". Itv.com. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "Why Richard Branson wants kids out of school by age 16 | Sun Times National". Chicago Sun-Times. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  11. ↑ , 29 October 2015 (29 October 2015). "Teenage apprentice aged 17 ranked with Lord Sugar and Sir Richard Branson as top entrepreneur – Mirror Online". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  12. ↑ Price, Chris. "Teenage businessman Ben Towers ranked among top entrepreneurs with Sir Richard Branson and Lord Alan Sugar". Kentonline.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  13. ↑ Branson, Richard (9 November 2015). "Age is not a barrier to success". Virgin. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  14. ↑ TEDx Talks (2015-12-14), A Number Is Just An Age | Ben Towers | TEDxYouth@Croydon, retrieved 2018-04-06
  15. ↑ "Upstarts fronting start-ups: Five British entrepreneurs under 20". Growthbusiness.co.uk. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  16. ↑ "Bristol Post – latest local news, sport & business from Bristol". bristolpost.co.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  17. ↑ Gowan, Natasha Mc (20 July 2015). "The highs and lows of life as a young entrepreneur | Startups.co.uk: Starting a business advice and business ideas". Startups.co.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  18. ↑ Willgress, Lydia (25 September 2015). "Ben Towers hires himself at Towers Design as apprentice so he can leave school | Daily Mail Online". Daily Mail. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  19. ↑ "Teenage tech entrepreneur Ben Towers strikes exclusive partnership with Zest". The Drum. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  20. ↑ "The 17-year-old entrepreneur running three businesses – BBC News". BBC. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  21. ↑ "Towers, Imprenditore Teenager: "La Spesa On Line È Il Futuro Anche Sul Fresco" | Corriere Ortofrutticolo". Corriereortofrutticolo.it. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  22. ↑ "Zest the Agency merges with Towers Design". thedrum.com. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  23. ↑ "Book Ben Towers - Conference Speaker - JLA". www.jla.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  24. ↑ "The 17-year-old running three businesses". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  25. ↑ "BBC - Myleene Klass, Jamal Edwards and Levi Roots empower next generation of entrepreneurs for CBBC's Pocket Money Pitch - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  26. ↑ "Can Britain Have a Payrise? - BBC Two". BBC. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  27. ↑ Milq.com (5 October 2015). "A Number Is Just An Age | TEDxYouth@Croydon – Milq Playlist". Milq.com. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  28. ↑ Price, Chris. "Ben Towers, 16, from Gillingham aims to raise £100,000 through crowdfunding for his social media company Social Marley". Kentonline.co.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  29. ↑ Adam Pescod (5 May 2015). "How entrepreneurs pick up the art of people management". Elite Business Magazine. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  30. ↑ "Can the BBC create a new generation of entrepreneurs?". enterprisenation.com. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
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