Oakham entrepreneur's eCommerce business set to hit £1m annual turnover

A business set up by Oakham tycoon Antonio Wedral is set to smash through the £1million turnover mark less than three years after its launch.

Antonio co-founded eCommerce consultancy start-up NOVOS in January 2018, aged just 23, to support retail brands with online sales,

The business, originally run from his parents' home in Norwich, is now on course to make £1million by the end of the financial year next April.

"It has been a mad few years," said Antonio.

"There are 19 of us now and we're hoping to turn over a million this financial year and the plan is for £2 million the year after.

"When we began we didn't want to build big numbers, we just wanted a lifestyle drop.

"I didn't expect us to hit this number this soon, but it's good thing."

The company was set up while Antonio was working for fashion magazine Gentleman's Journal, but he quit his day job three months later to run it full-time.

The Cambridge University graduate was plunged in at the deep end, learning the finer points of business management on the job.

"I moved back to my parents in Norwich and worked all the hours learning everything there is to know about business," he added.

"I had no idea about things like HMRC or balance sheets.

"For the first six to 12 months my hours would typically be 8am to midnight, and that was seven days a week."

But the hard yards and sacrifices soon began to pay off, and the business grew quickly, picking up two honours at the prestigious Global Search Awards earlier this year, and finalists in two categories at the Drum Awards.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has struck a huge blow to the global economy, NOVOS has bucked the trend.

"If anything, Covid has had a positive effect on our business because everything has gone online," said Antonio.

"I can't see it impacting us."

Business acumen was passed down from his parents who ran a successful retail business in their native Yugoslavia before fleeing to the UK during the Balkan Wars in 1992.

Antonio was born a year later, growing up in Norwich before moving to Oakham 18 months ago to be near his partner who works for Leicestershire Police.

The 25-year-old first discovered there was money to be made online in his early teens, building social media accounts with different themes and then selling them on, using the profits to fund his way through a marketing degree at Anglia Ruskin College.

As a teen he also enjoyed instant success in the music industry, when his debut EP reached number 30 in the iTune charts, one place above legendary crooner Neil Diamond.

"I started making YouTube videos and got this massive audience," he added.

"I loved music so I thought let's see if I can sell a bunch of albums.

"It was just a fun thing. I would rather try things even if they don't work than have the regret of not trying."