Name: Matt Kepple
Age: 24
Business: Wahblo
Role: Founder
Where: Started in Birmingham

Matt tells us how he started a scheme that makes it easy for students to donate to charity, and gives some top advice to the entrepreneurs of the future

Matt Kepple

I started Wahblo when I was at Birmingham uni in 2004. I was doing chemistry, French, maths, physicsand natural science. I was always interested in charity and fairtrade and set up a fairtrade shop at my campus.

Because my mum and dad had always sponsored a child abroad, I decided to sponsor one in Honduras for £15 a month. After about two months, I couldn’t afford it. So, I got my mates to chip in and we all paid a bit of the 15 quid each.

I started to think about getting more groups of friends to do the same thing, and so, at the start of my fourth year, I got a marketing campaign going with the help of World Vision. I did some market research first and soon, 100 people had signed up to do it. The whole scheme started becoming a major logistical issue after that, so I ended up creating an online system.

We tagged the enterprise as ‘Sponsor a kid for a quid’. We wanted to keep the ethos very positive and make people feel good about what they were doing with their money. We didn’t want to go for that whole guilt trip thing that some charities put on people.

Financially it’s been manageable for me so far. I got a £5,000 grant from the Big Boost Agency ,which has helped. I also still live with my parents in London so I don’t really have to pay any rent.

Since I got the idea going, I’ve been recognised by the Channel 4 Ideas Factory, which was brilliant. The independent recognition has helped me gain support and respect.

When I was a kid…

When I was younger, I always used to think it would be cool to be doing several jobs at the same time and that has kind of transpired. I’m working on various other projects, including a graduate networking company called Gradulicious.

My advice to young people wanting to get into social business work is, be willing to let ideas evolve, get feedback and get to know your market. The advertising job I took helped me learn so much; it’s good to get experience in a successful company before you set out on your own. You’re a fool if you think you know enough already, you never do. I thought I did when I came out of uni, but I didn’t.

Social enterprise offers you a career that allows you to make the world a better place. There’s scope to use your creativity and innovation on a personal level. I think we’ve only just tipped the iceberg of what social enterprise can do.

I would say, take your wildest dreams and think how you can have a good impact on society while realising them.

www.wahblo.com

click here to read Matt's blog