Many students come up with ideas for interesting businesses or apps while studying, but only a few are able to take those projects through to viable real-world businesses. Paul Stewart was one of those few, starting luggage shipping service Uni Baggage around ten years ago in response to difficulties shipping his belongings back and forth between his Belfast home and his university place in Edinburgh.
Uni Baggage originally aimed to solve the problem of shipping personal effects for students quickly and at a low cost, providing an alternative to slow and expensive shipping crates. The business reached £100,000 in turnover by the time Paul graduated in 2011, and he has worked hard since then to grow it into a globally recognised service with turnover now in the millions.
The company has now launched a US-based subsidiary to help expand the business and because a significant proportion of its sales are in shipping routes between the US and UK. It's also rebranded from Uni Baggage to the more neutral
My Baggage, as the business helps not only students but also other people such as tech employees moving country for work.
Paul said: "Even though we have statements on our website that we weren’t just for students it was clear that some visitors were hesitant because they perceived us as a student focused company. I realised that if you have to tell people you’re not just for students then it clearly must be a limitation and so we made the decision to rebrand into
MyBaggage.com."
Source: Written based on press release
