Meet the post-grad who raised £20,000 from just £1

Alan Radbourne is the remarkable PhD student that turned a £1 investment into a £20,000 profit.

He has since been nominated for Self-Starter of the Year and has written his own book documenting the One Pound Challenge. It all started with a pound coin that he found in a Leisure Centre car park.

Coming up to his final year at Loughborough University in 2012, Alan wondered what he should do after he graduates. He came up with the idea when he was distracted at at work one day, “thinking if I had a thousand pounds what I would do with that.”

This gradually got reduced from a thousand pounds, to one hundred, to ten, until he wondered “I reckon I could use the same ideas I had with a thousand pounds and reach that point from just a pound.”

But why? Two reasons. “Firstly, I didn’t want to look back and regret not doing it. Secondly, I wanted to see what was possible with a small investment, and use it as a chance to inspire others”. This is how the One Pound Challenge was born.

Having studied Geography and Sports Science, and with no business background whatsoever, Alan made his first investment in a 69p bottle of washing up liquid from a local supermarket,

The challenge started two days after his final exam. When asked about the name of his challenge, Alan joked, “69p doesn’t have the same ring to it, and the 69 challenge sounds like something completely different. The remaining 31 pence was still reinvested though.”

After one month, which mainly comprised of cleaning, Alan had turned his one pound into £1,212, despite saying he “despises cleaning and tries to avoid it at all costs.”

Alan took on many different roles throughout his year including changing 800 light bulbs for a landlord in a day and a half, painting and decorating, wood carving and cleaning.

This year was not without difficult times. “Around March was the toughest time for me,” Alan told The Epinal. “I had just finished a consulting contract at a local company sooner than I expected, and therefore during March there was a point where I had no work.”

Alan persevered however, and the time pressure of one year made things more difficult for him meaning he was forced to go searching for investments in the local area.

His biggest haul came when he renovated a Mazda Bongo van into a retro campervan, making £1,300 profit in a matter of weeks, saying it was “the most enjoyable part of this experience”.

Having finished his ambitious challenge and making 20 grand for himself, he humbly explained how he used his money. “A bit went on the mortgage, a memorable holiday to Italy with my wife, and I also gave money to charities such as Christians Against Poverty. I think finance can control you, so giving was an important premise of the year.”

And more strings have been added to his bow.

Continuing with this journey, his book has reached a sky-high number four in the business biography section of the Amazon Kindle bookstore, smashing competition from lucrative business gurus such as Karen Brady, Lord Sugar and Richard Branson.

A budding entrepreneur has been born. Nominated for Self-Starter of the Year by the company Startacus, he hopes to achieve the most votes from the general public.

So surely we have an Apprentice candidate on our hands?

“My wife would kill me and plus I have a PhD to finish”.

Vote for Alan as self-starter of the year.