By Timothy Adler on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Leicester City left-back Ryan Bertrand, who scored a goal for England against Malta in a 2017 World Cup qualifier, had an interesting side hustle.
Back in 2015, he founded fintech brokerage firm Silicon Markets with his friends Louis Bell and Matthew Kirkham, aiming to revolutionise amateur trading in foreign exchange currency speculation using AI and machine learning.
Asked about why he got involved in the start-up at the time, Bertrand said: “I kind of wanted to go against the grain – the traditional footballer who reached perhaps mid-30s, stops and then thinks ‘what am I going to do now?’”
Silicon Markets was eventually sold to a Malaysian firm, so Ryan Bertrand went through the entire entrepreneur journey from start-up to exit.
Bertrand told the Guardian that he became interested in business when he started going with his mother to the offices of investment bank Morgan Stanley, where she worked in the administration department.
“She was a single mum and sometimes I had to go with her to work – when they had the open days, when the kids were allowed,” Bertrand told the newspaper. “I remember being wowed by the buildings in Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf. That’s what sparked my interest.”
Further reading
Who were the Dragons’ Den Dragons and where are they now?
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Timothy Adler, Khareem Sudlow
