Former Black Country market trader Steve Smith is a serial entrepreneur. Having made his fortune from Poundland – the company he co-founded in 1990 – he now has his finger in a wide range of pies from recruitment to property to takeaway food.
His retail career began on Wolverhampton and Bilston markets where his father, Keith, ran a stall. Together they founded the Hooty’s cash and carry business which they sold in 1988.
The family moved to Majorca but Steve’s wife, Tracey, was reluctant to move from the º£½ÇÊÓƵ so they stayed behind. He, along with partner Dave Dodd, founded Poundland from a rented office in Sedgley with a starting capital of just £50,000.
The first store opened in December 1991 in the Octagon Centre, Burton, followed by others soon after, including the Meadowhall Centre in Sheffield.
Other stores followed, along with a new warehouse in Willenhall, and by the late 1990s the business, with Steve Smith as chief executive, had turned into a nationwide chain.
In 2002 they sold out to a management buyout team backed by private equity from Advent International.
The sale made £50 million. By that time Poundland had a turnover of more than £180 million, 84 stores and almost 5,000 employees. Poundland continues to grow and has just opened its 500th store.
The company was the subject of a second private equity sale in 2010 worth £200 million.
Meanwhile Steve Smith – who picked up an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for two years running – keeps himself busy with a wide range of business ventures.
He is co-owner of head hunters Kind Consultancy Ltd, an executive search firm specialising in middle and senior management appointments.
He is also co-owner of Blue Square, a Birmingham-based business specialising in buying property to rent. The firm has a rental income of around £500,000 a year.
He is chairman and co-owner of Greenfield Capital which specialities in bridging and property finance and floated on the Guernsey stock exchange in 2012, turning over £30 million.
He founded The Funding Club in September 2013, a private investors club which connects investors with entrepreneurs.
His other interests include the online property agency Estates Direct where he is a shareholder, takeaway food specialist Eat4Less which is planning 100 stores in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, window manufacturer Excel Windows, and fast-growing workforce management company Maxtime.
Aged 50, he lives on a 50-acre Edwardian estate near Kidderminster.
