- Ben Francis, a former business and management student, established his fitness clothing business in 2012 as a 19-year-old studying at Aston University
- Gymshark has created 450 jobs at its headquarters in Solihull and was second in the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track
- He will be recognised for his entrepreneurship and outstanding business achievement.
Ben Francis, a former business and management student at Aston University and founder of multi-million-pound fitness clothing brand Gymshark, is to be awarded an honorary degree.
The 29-year-old will receive the honour at a ceremony at Eastside Rooms in Birmingham on 5 April 2022.
Ben established his fitness clothing business in 2012 as a 19-year-old studying at Aston University. Gymshark sales exceeded £100m in 2021 across 170 countries. The business has created 450 jobs at its headquarters in Solihull and was second in the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track which ranks Britain’s top 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits.
He had set up two businesses as a teenager including a fitness tracking app and started Gymshark with a sewing machine and screen-printing kit in his mum’s garage. He was also studying full-time and working every night as a pizza delivery driver. He kept this up for two years until the budding business had revenues of £250,000 a year, when he left Aston University in 2014 to run Gymshark full time.
The key to Gymshark's success was using social media influencers to promote the brand's products to their millions of followers, sending free clothing to prominent bodybuilders and other fitness fanatics. At the same time, it worked hard to ensure its own social media accounts were as interesting and visual as possible. Today it has 5m+ followers on Instagram alone.
Colin Chapman, deputy dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences at Aston Business School, said:
“I am delighted that Aston University will bestow this honour on Dr Ben Francis.
“He has remained an active part of our University community, speaking at the Students’ Union in October 2019, employing Aston University placement students and providing advice and sponsorship to the 2018-19 Aston University TedX Society.”
“Aston University was named Outstanding Entrepreneurial University of the Year in the 2020 THE Awards and Ben typifies this entrepreneurial spirit which I hope will inspire prospective students and graduates alike.”
- Notes to Editors
Founded in 1895 and a University since 1966, Aston is a long established university led by its three main beneficiaries – students, business and the professions, and our region and society. Aston University is located in Birmingham and at the heart of a vibrant city and the campus houses all the university’s academic, social and accommodation facilities for our students. Saskia Loer Hansen is the interim Vice-Chancellor & Chief Executive.
Aston University was named University of the Year 2020 by The Guardian and the University’s full time MBA programme has been ranked in the top 100 in the world in the Economist MBA 2021 ranking. The Aston MBA has been ranked 12th in the UK and 85th in the world.
For media inquiries in relation to this release, contact Sam Cook, Press and Communications Manager, on (+44)74469 10063 or email: s.cook2@aston.ac.uk
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