Man who left school with one GCSE turns £500 overdraft into £350m business

11 March 2024 , 13:52

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Oliver Cookson (Image: Oliver Cookson)

A multi-millionaire who left school with one GCSE has revealed how he turned one simple idea into a business empire.

When Myprotein founder Oliver Cookson first started selling bags of protein online, he had no idea his small company would one day be worth £350m. The 45-year-old struggled at school in Stockport and left education at the age of 16 with just one GCSE to his name. Oliver, who is from Cheadle Heath, went on to complete an apprenticeship in computer programming where he found his passion for tech.

With the internet still in its early stages, Oliver also taught himself how to create a website in his spare time. "School and learning academically wasn't for me," he said. "It doesn't mean it's wrong, but I think people learn in different ways. I was making teas and coffees but getting among expert programmers. I read up on how to make a website and taught myself in my spare time. I thought, 'There's so much potential here.'"

But Oliver's life changed forever in 1999 after returning from a sabbatical in Australia. The entrepreneur discovered a passion for fitness after spotting an advert for a David Lloyd gym. His new-found love of working out led him into taking proteins and supplements later sparking his interest into what was actually in them. Oliver was sipping his bedtime shake at his mum's house when he started reading about an ingredient called whey protein.

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Myprotein founder Oliver Cookson

At just 23, he wondered if there was a faster and cheaper way to make protein powder himself. This led him to create Myprotein, reports the Manchester Evening News. "There was one period where I went to the gym and gained a passion for it," Oliver added. "I went five times a week and was watching what I ate. I was using the protein powder that was on the market at the time and had this eureka moment of wondering what was actually inside it. I figured out how to make my own protein and built a website from the ground up in my spare time."

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To buy a single bag of whey powder, Oliver asked his local bank for a start-up loan but was quickly turned down. However, they did agree to increase his overdraft to £500. This meant he could buy a bag of protein and start mixing and flavouring his product. He put the powder online and it sold out straight away setting the groundwork for his multi-million-pound company.

"The £500 overdraft was all the money I had," Oliver said. "My parents were a working-class family. I had nowhere else to turn. I bought a single bag of protein, made a website, sold it. Bought two bags, sold it. It just kept growing." Before long, Myprotein had grown so much that Oliver was able to buy his first warehouse in a small, old mill in Cheadle Heath.

While working full-time as a web developer, he single-handedly ran the company until the demand for his product became too much to handle alone. As the business started to grow quickly, Oliver decided to leave his job and hire staff. He ended up owning seven warehouses across Greater Manchester and employing hundreds of people.

But there was one special moment when Oliver knew he had made it big. "After three years, one of the moments I realised I'd made it was when I wrote myself a cheque for one million pounds," he said. "I had to do as much as I could before I could start employing people. I had just got my own mortgage and there was a lot of risk there. I needed to pay my mortgage so I left my job as late as possible.

Man who left school with one GCSE turns £500 overdraft into £350m business

Oliver Robinson, founder of Myprotein set up in 2004

"Looking back at it now, it's overwhelming, but I was young and I'd never ran a business before. I had no mentors and none of my friends or family were into business. I had no one to lean on. I only had myself and I just figured it out as I went along. But it's not as easy as that, I had a really big drive, determination and resilience."

Just a few years after starting the company in 2004, Oliver's hard work paid off Myprotein was named the number one sports nutrition online company in Europe. In 2011, he sold the company to The Hut Group for an impressive £350m in cash. This sale led to him being named the UK's number one self-made millionaire under 40 in 2019 and he also made the Sunday Times Rich List.

Oliver moved to Monte Carlo but says Manchester will "always" be his home. "[The company] was a real cash cow," he added. "I didn't have any loans or debt, it was just me. I'm very proud of it to be honest. It was my life's work involved to get to where I got to. I'm proud of it, but it wasn't without its ups and downs. It wasn't without its hard work."

Now the multi-millionaire has launched another new venture, Verve, a nutrition brand aimed at fulfilling an individual's daily nutritional requirements in a single serving. It wasn't until he began speaking to pals who had experienced the same difficulty finding a multifunctional product that the idea for Verve was created.

Verve's first product, V80, contains 80 active ingredients promising to boost vitality, energy levels, immune function and wellness, with a formula approved by experts. The millionaire says he lent on his expertise to develop a mix of ingredients for personal use that would give him everything he needed in one scoop.

"I insist that we use only the absolute best quality, ethically sourced ingredients and, working with the world's leading nutritionists, we've produced a premium, great tasting product that is all of the goodness and none of the hassle," he says. "I'm personally very proud of the flavour profile of Verve."