Young Doncaster entrepreneur launches vehicle sign writing business

From a very young age, Kai watched and helped his parents manufacture and work in their own business and at the age of four, he collected vinyl offcuts to make his own collages.

Kai always knew he wanted to do that type of work, but it was such a difficult time to start with the covid pandemic around at the time. After leaving school, he tried so many employment avenues but to no avail, so he decided to do something he had always dreamed about – start his own business.

KD Signs n Designs has been operating just over a year now and it is going extremely well. In such a short time, Kai has built a strong client base and has a good number of repeat customers as well as recommendations.

The main obstacle for Kai was his age…starting a business at just 16 years of age. “It was a challenge but I never gave up because I have such a passion for this type of work” he said.

“I started with help from the Launchpad programme, many of the attendees including the course leader couldn’t believe I was only 16 and the youngest they had on the scheme. I also applied for the Economic Recovery Grant through Business Doncaster and again my age meant I was probably the youngest person to receive support with this government grant".

Kai was not even able to set up a business bank account, due to his age.

With the support from Business Doncaster and 8 months of hard work and resilience, phone calls every day, continuous form fillings and a series of setbacks, qualifying for the grant means he has finally been able to purchase the Vinyl Printing Machine he needed since he started his business journey. This printer will enable Kai to fulfil many of the enquiries himself instead of having to refer to larger businesses, usually out of the Doncaster area.

The support from his Business Growth Advisor, Steve Swann, has been priceless and Kai cannot thank him enough for his help, support and encouragement.

Finally, Kai would like to say a big thank you to his Mum, who has helped and mentored him tirelessly over the last year.

For further information, please call Kai on 07493 795353 or email: kaidransfield05@gmail.com