By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
AT 23, Ben Cherrie is well on his way to achieving his dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Ben is a co-founder of Sir Conrad, a high-end mobile application design and development company which already has a stack of big-name brands on board.
Not bad for a Berwick boy who dropped out of school in Year 10.
Ben sees Melbourne as the “entrepreneurial hub” of Australia and Sir Conrad is his, and his colleagues, attempt to tap into that potential.
“Ours is a start-up methodology that is hard to come across,” Ben told Grow.
“As entrepreneurs we found a gap in the market.
“We see Melbourne as the entrepreneurial hub of Australia and Australia as the gateway to Asia.”
Sir Conrad has helped develop apps for a range of different companies, including Nickelodeon Australian, Monash Health, Living Legacy and a bunch of others.
Going back even just a few years ago, it’s hard for Ben to imagine the business opportunities that would open up for him.
“I left school at Year 10 and worked as an apprentice cabinet maker, it was the toughest year of my life,” Ben said.
“I went back to school and did Year 12, went to TAFE, did a bunch of diplomas, went to uni and did one year of a Bachelor of Entrepreneurship.”
Ben always found himself thinking of new business ideas.
Innovation was never far from his mind.
“I needed a source of income so I started a cleaning business, and I was cleaning local church,” he said.
“During my second year of uni I wasn’t that excited so I started to defer and focused on the cleaning business, then my brother came into the entrepreneurial scene and then soon I met Simon.”
Ben’s referring to the other co-founders of Sir Conrad – Simon Rahme, also a development partner, and David Cherrie, Ben’s brother.
For these budding entrepreneurs they hope Melbourne, and next the world, will be their oyster.
“There’s been massive growth in the entrepreneurial space in Melbourne,” Ben said.
“The belt we’re in, in Abbotsford and Richmond, it’s a bit of a creative belt and it resembles what happened in Silicon Valley.
“We need to keep empowering entrepreneurs in Melbourne and Australia.”
So, where does the name Sir Conrad come from?
Well, it turns out Sir Conrad is a character who just wanted to change the world – much like Ben.
For more information, and for the full story behind the company’s name, visit www.sirconrad.com
