Eastbourne schoolboys’ business praised by Dragons’ Den and Apprentice stars

Two business-minded brothers set up a logo company during lockdown, and they’ve been getting a lot of high profile attention ever since.
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Jack and Harry Knight, just 15 and 12, set up their business, Animate Our Logo, in September of this year.

Ever since launching, the boys have seen a mass of attention from people in the business world – including some very well-known figures.

Two winners of the BBC Apprentice have been in touch.

Jack and Harry Knight SUS-201028-152903001Jack and Harry Knight SUS-201028-152903001
Jack and Harry Knight SUS-201028-152903001
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Joseph Valente, who won the show in 2015, connected with the boys online, and then posted about the business on his social media to an audience of thousands.

Sarah Lynn, who won in 2017, became a customer for the boys after hearing about their business.

As well as this, Jack and Harry have both been given a free training course worth £4,000 by Simon Coulsdon – the owner of five online businesses worth millions.

Someone from Mr Coulsdon’s team heard about the boys, and after getting in touch with them, he gave them free access to complete the online Internet Business Diploma.

@TheoPaphitis SUS-201028-153340001@TheoPaphitis SUS-201028-153340001
@TheoPaphitis SUS-201028-153340001
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The boys are home-schooled, and split their time between school and business. Covering GCSE subjects from Monday to Thursday, and then business studies is left for Fridays.

BBC Radio Sussex have also shown interest, and are set to interview the boys any day now.

Perhaps the biggest name to promote the business is a former dragon - Theo Paphitis.

Mr Paphitis picked the boys for his small business award (SBS). This recognition means the brothers not only get to meet the man himself next year, but he promotes them through his own website.

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He tweeted, “I wish the boys at Animate Our Logo every success.”

Animate Our Logo has its own page on his site, which has seen a big increase in sales for the business.

David Knight, the boys’ father, said, “Initially we found out by having him tweet us. This made the boys’ phones go crazy all night as he has nearly 500,000 Twitter followers.”

The boys said how exciting the whole process has been.

They said, “The excitement really kicked in when we went to the Co-op a few weeks ago to buy some milk and we were on the front page of the Herald. Mum then decided to buy every copy to give to all our family and friends.

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“We’re excited and nervous to meet Theo Paphitis but looking forward to saying thank you for his support.”

David said, “Although school work is the priority, we are managing to keep on top of everything.”

He said how lucky they were to get the award during half term, so that they had time to respond to new customer demands and ‘hundreds of messages of encouragement’.

David said, “One of the highlights for the boys is how many local business owners reached out to them after the story appeared in the Herald.

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“We have already had some amazing customers and reviews from them, and this makes us proud to live in Eastbourne.”

In terms of the future, the boys are hoping their little brother Tommy can join in with the business, he is only nine at the moment though.

The boys are already being very sensible with their earnings.

They said, “One of the first things we have learnt in business so far is that not all of the money is profit, so we are still paying for some of the set up costs.

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“Once we have paid for this though we would love to be able to buy a PlayStation 5 and then after that we plan on putting everything else in a savings account to go towards driving lessons and a car when we are older.”

Their page on Mr Paphitis’s website is here: https://www.theopaphitissbs.com/profile/2924/Animate-Our-Logo