COVID-19 was a major setback, as the lockdown went into effect immediately after he secured his loan, meaning the coffers were suddenly empty, as it were - the loan he’d worked so hard for was gone! Now, though, he knew he needed to pause, reflect, and find some other way to get the money. Thankfully, this came in the form of a government loan helping keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic. After this ‘gift from God’, he knew he had to get his head down and focus entirely on launching the app, and so - after six months of tireless work - finally, the app was complete, and Barbr was live.
The next seven months entailed trying to raise more investment, and failing a lot. Over this period, Reef received over 100 rejections from potential investors. After all this hardship, and all these experienced investors giving him reasons as to why his business wasn’t worth investing in, he finally found himself succumbing to fear, and started a business course at university. It didn’t take long, however, for him to realise that, though he was doing what everyone had told him he should’ve been doing the entire time, no investors would take him seriously if he was living a reckless student life in halls, being taught by someone who’d never had a professional business - he needed to drop out. For Barbr. And it worked: soon after, at the age of 20, he raised £250K, and now Barbr has over 75,000 clients in 11 countries, and is processing £750K per month in bookings!
In short, there’s something everyone can take from Reef’s story, no matter what your goals in life are. Self-belief, hope, and resilience despite constant adversity are paramount if you want success. In Reef’s words, you have to be a bit ‘delusional’ to know exactly what you want out of life and go for it at all costs - but, in Reef’s case certainly, with his unrelenting tenacity, the rewards outweighed the risks.
Felix
Sixth Form Senior Prefect
