We all love an underdog, and Jordan Daykin is precisely that.
After leaving school with no qualifications at 13 Daykin and his grandfather Stan set about changing the youngster’s future by developing a prototype for a universal plasterboard fitting.
From their garden shed in Wiltshire a multi-million pound business was born.
By 2012 GripIt was patented and stocked by DIY chain Screwfix, with other retailers soon to follow.
Two years later Daykin entered the BBC’s Dragon’s Den and secured investment of £80,000 from Deborah Meaden, and the business has gone from strength to strength.
Meaden’s original investment is now reportedly worth £2.5 million, with the business now worth £10 million.
According to The Daily Mail Daykin said:
For me the best things about all I have achieved so far is seeing my granddad’s face light up each day when I tell him what’s new, and the sense of achievement we get looking out onto his garden shed where it all happened.
Daykin’s rise hasn’t been without controversy though.
In 2014 he was accused by his mother of breaking into her home and stealing Swarovski crystals, four televisions and jewellery worth £4,000, reports the Mail.
No Charges were ever brought against the young businessman, who claimed he had permission to be in the property after his mother and brother had a row. Of the items taken a spokesmen claimed Daykin only took items which belonged to him.
He said of the incident:
I haven’t spoken to my mum since then. It all got dropped but the damage to my reputation was done – I thought I might as well leave it. What’s done is done.
I had the chance to go and live in Africa with my dad, but I couldn’t face leaving my grandparents – they are more like a mum and dad figure than my own parents.
Daykin’s story is one of the most successful in the history of the den and will be featured in a documentary called Dragon’s Den: From Pitches To Riches this Sunday.
What a turnaround from uneducated teen to millionaire entrepreneur.
