My favorite entrepreneur is Barry Hawkins. I chose Hawkins as a very unique entrepreneur because he quit his professional job as a college tutor and started a unique entrepreneurial business. Many people could not believe what he was doing could earn him any penny. People thought he had a mental problem.
Believe me, Hawkins started a mobile pet washing and grooming business. He was doing all this in his old van that he repainted and equipped it with everything he needed to do this job.
Hawkins moved from house to house to render this special service in his neighborhood. He had a passionate love for pets especially dogs which were almost kept in every home, he, therefore, found this job very interesting indeed.
However, he did have a lot of problems with his family for taking this crazy idea his wife left him leaving behind their seven years old daughters. Life was not that easy at first but after a few weeks, everybody in his neighborhood was asking for his contacts for his service to their dear pets! He made a lot of cash in three months and almost all the shampoo manufacturing companies wanted him to advertise their products in the media. He became very famous in the whole city of New York.
These made him expand his business to other cities and his company became registered which employed 3000 people many of whom were immigrants from politically troubled countries.
In three years his company ‘Hawkins Pets Care'(HPC), was one of the most successful businesses of its kind which started selling its shares in the stock market!
Hawkins became a billionaire and his employees were the best paid in their category. He became a celebrity in the U.S and everyone went for him for advice wherever they wanted to start a business. He built a huge tower in New York, ‘HAWKINS PLAZA’, which became the company’s headquarters.
Hawkins did not forget the society, he knew that he could not have gone far by himself and therefore had a lot to give back to the society following his success. Together with his wife who came back after seeing her husband in the media for his success, they opened several rehabilitation centers and children’s homes for the orphaned children. He also supported the immigrants from war-torn countries by believing that were it not for their willingness to work for him he could not be that successful.
He continued to employ more people including professionals to manage his dynamically expanding business. His daughter became the Chief Executive Officer of Hawkins Pets Care after his father’s death. She ran it to higher grounds having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Veterinary medicine. Together with her two younger brothers, they ran what they called a family business.
References
Charles, L. The rise of social entrepreneur, New York: Macmillan Company, 1997.