Akshay Ruparelia, 19, Becomes UK’s Youngest Millionaire

Indian-origin teenager Akshay Ruparelia has become the youngest millionaire in the United Kingdom after his online estate agency was valued at £12 million. His friends have taken to calling him Alan Sugar after the host and star of The Apprentice UK, who also made his wealth through his property business.

Ruparelia, 19, was in sixth form when he started the business by borrowing £7,000 from his relatives. He currently has 12 employees and he wants to expand the organization further. He recently raised £400,000 from investors through a crowd funding website by giving them control in 3.25 per cent of the business. The remaining shares are controlled by him and his uncle.

“Of course my parents are very proud of what I’ve now achieved, but I lie in bed some nights and can barely believe it,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

His father Kaushik Ruparelia, 57, is a caregiver and also works in a Royal Mail sorting office while his 51-year-old mother, Renuka, is a teaching assistant for deaf children.

The idea for the business, doorsteps.co.uk, struck Ruparelia last year while reading the biography of Ryanair founder Michael O’Leary.

“Mr O’Leary began by selling flights for just £4.99 and his point was that if you can offer customers something at a price they just can’t believe and you deliver what you say you will, you hook people in and your business will work,” Akshay told the publication. “So I took that same logic and applied it to estate agency. Research showed some online estate agencies were still charging homeowners between £800 and £1,000. I knew I could do it for a fraction of that.”

He charges only £99 as commission for selling property. His first assignment after launching the website was a man who wanted to sell his house and land. Ruparelia asked his sister’s boyfriend to drive him to the location to take photos, since he hadn’t passed his driving test then nor did he have a car.

Despite the high valuation of doorsteps.co.uk, which places his company as the 18th biggest estate agency in the country, Ruparelia still lives with his parents and takes home only £1,000 a month. Initially, he took home only £500 a month.

A unique feature of the company is that Ruparelia hires mothers to show properties to the interested clients.

“Mums know a thing or two don’t they and quite rightly people trust mums. Every mum who works for me will be honest and tell the truth. That’s so important because for the vast majority of people selling their home is the biggest financial transaction of their lives,” he said.

The teenager achieved so much and managed to get five A grades as well. He has been accepted into Oxford University but wants to keep it on hold to expand his company.

“I want to rip up the old-style way we sell homes in this country,” Ruparelia said.

Doorsteps – Meet the Founders from Akshay Ruparelia on Vimeo.