Eriksson & Robertsson

Philip Robertsson and William Eriksson decided to turn their hobby and main interest, cars and motors, into a business. They were awarded “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2018 for developing a very profitable company in a mature and competitive business: used cars.

Philip and William started out very young, before they even had a driver’s licence. Philip worked in the mining industry prior to meeting William and starting their business. Both young men were unhappy in their employment and sought something new. They both enjoyed cars and thought, “we wanted to give it a try and had not much to lose.”

The business started small. They bought, or were gifted, inexpensive mopeds and light motor cycles that they stored in William’s mother’s garage. The money earned from the original sales was invested in more second-hand cars that they repaired, customized, and sold with a profit. Although Philip and William were both passionate about the business, neither possessed formal knowledge about how to manage their start-up.

“We had no knowledge of how to run a business. There are so many things we hadn’t thought about before. We just thought it would go smoothly from day one.”

NyforetagarCentrum  is a not-for-profit organization in Sweden that aims to help new entrepreneurs start viable businesses. As Philip and William began creating their business, they got in touch NyforetagarCentrum (NC) and received helpful support.

Philip and William found NyforetagarCentrum extremely helpful and made use of their guidance, websites, and instructional documents when starting their business. These resources outline how to start a business, how to put up a business, and how to register the company formally. While Philip and William knew they wanted to sell cars, they needed support on how to build a company. The entrepreneurs found that the initial meeting with NyforetagarCentrum was very helpful and outlined budgeting, different business models, and good locations for meeting clients.

After 6 months, the business moved out of the garage and to a small location outside of town. The shop was 200 square meters, cost 8000 Euros per year, and became the business’ home for the next year. With success in this location, Philip and William started to consider expanding the business. Every day at the business was fun, and they really enjoyed running the company.

After calculating the financial potential and deciding to expand, the business moved. The new location is 1000 square meters and costs 1.3 million in rent each year. Since this expansion, Philip and William have experienced great success with the business. In 2017 they earned 1.72 million Euros in revenue with 10% profit, and then they jumped to 31 million Euros in revenue, with 10% profit, in 2018.

Their advice to young entrepreneurs is:

“Give it a shot earlier, don’t wait that long. We lived poorly for 2 years, without a salary, to build a company with a strong economy. Now have 3 employees and we plan to expand to a bigger city to start the same business model over there.”

NyforetagarCentrum is a not-for-profit organization in Sweden that aims to help new entrepreneurs start viable businesses. It is part of the Youth Business Europe programme, a regional initiative supported by the Citi Foundation to help young entrepreneurs to start or grow a business.