When Emilio Giordano decided to start his own business in 2014, he was facing a tough few months. Aged just 21, he was on the waiting list to have open-heart surgery for the fourth time. Giordano was born with the heart condition aortic stenosis – a narrowing of the aortic valve – that had seen him in and out of hospital since birth. “I was set to have the operation the previous year, but the doctors agreed to defer it until I finished uni,” he says. “Then, after I graduated, it was delayed. It was frustrating because I couldn’t apply for jobs. That’s when I started thinking about doing my own thing.”
Life up to that point had been far from easy for Giordano, whose childhood on a small farm in Wales was punctuated by his condition. “I had my first open-heart surgery at three days old, then again at [ages] five and 11, before my fourth at 21. I had several other smaller procedures, too. Growing up, it meant I couldn’t do the sorts of things my friends did. I used to play football but I struggled to keep up, and I couldn’t play contact sports like rugby. I think I would’ve been a sporty person if I could’ve been, so it did hold me back.”
Not for long, though. “I’ve always been interested in machinery and cars, so I decided to study motorsport engineering at uni,” says Giordano. “After graduating, I wanted to do something that would allow me to be my own boss. I knew there was a market around vintage tractor enthusiasts and eBay was the perfect platform to get started on, because you don’t have to invest any money. You can literally just pop an item on there and sell it.”
He set up Agri Parts – which supplies tractor parts and accessories – from the farm his parents still call home, and used all the resources at his disposal to make it a success.
Giordano drew on work experience he’d gained alongside uni to help his business get off the ground. “My mum worked for a company that exported tractor parts and I used to help out in the holidays,” he says. “They weren’t supplying the UK, so I saw an opportunity to start buying a few products from them to sell on. I began researching online to find my own suppliers and soon I was importing from all over the world.”
The rest of his family proved helpful, too. “My dad started working alongside me quite early on as he was semi-retired and, 18 months later, my younger brother finished college and came on board as well – he’s now the warehouse manager. It helps to have people around who you can trust, because the first few employees you have in a new business are vital.”
His new venture wasn’t an overnight success, but Giordano is more resilient than most. “The first year was very slow, but I saw other companies making a success of it and I didn’t see that there was anything to stop me,” he says. “I was determined to make it work and I was in it for the long haul.”
Now, just four years after its launch, Agri Parts is a booming enterprise with three warehouses full of stock and customers all over the world. “Our turnover for last year was over half a million and we hope to push that further this year,” says Giordano. “We trade through the eBay Global Shipping Programme, which allows us to advertise to lots of different countries. International sales now account for 22% of our business.”
Having established a successful company that works around his needs, Giordano recently relocated to Hertford to live with his fiancee, Georgie, who he met at university. “I do all my work remotely now. I still go back to Wales quite frequently, but the internet is loads better down here,” he laughs.
So what’s next for the ambitious 26-year-old? “I want to take things to the next level and I’m excited about getting the mentorship from eBay to help us do that,” he says, explaining that the £5,000 prize money from his eBay Business Awards win will go towards upgrading facilities. “We’re hoping to expand our office space and build kitchen facilities in our warehouse as we’ve been using my parents’ house,” he says.
Tea-making aside, Giordano says his parents’ support has been invaluable. “My family were always behind me. If they hadn’t been on board from the start, I think it would’ve been much more difficult. I’m very lucky in that respect.”
eBay for business awards – the winners
Families and Babies, Bolton – joint overall winner
A charity that supports breastfeeding mothers across the UK, selling on eBay has provided Families and Babies with the capacity to expand support for breastfeeding, wellbeing and volunteering operations.
Velocity, Cambridge
Velocity is now the second-largest DAB radio brand in the UK, with founders PJ Scott and Eddie Latham taking their business from a garage operation to a major warehouse space and clocking up more than £25m in sales in the past year.
The Smokey Carter, Manchester
Howard and Samantha Carter, the husband and wife team behind BBQ rub and sauce brand The Smokey Carter, now have a range of 13 different sauces and rubs stocked in delis and gourmet shops the world over, from Kuwait to Sweden.
That’s Entertainment Dancewear, Liverpool
Another husband and wife team, Alan and Gill Turner, run a highly specialised business in dancewear and theatrical makeup. They have tapped into an international market through eBay and now sell their wares to a global client list.
ZZap, Wokingham
After investing all of his savings into cash-handling machine business ZZap to kickstart his life as an entrepreneur, ZZap founder Andrew Goodwin has truly seen his passion for the project come to fruition – the company has now sold more than 30,000 units and supplies blue chip clients such as McDonalds and Gucci.
Hopkinson cycles, Wakefield
After changes in shopping habits hit hard for third-generation family cycling shop Hopkinson Cycles, a shift to listing online selling through eBay facilitated rapid growth and renewal for this family business, with Hopkinson now turning over more than £1m a year.
Bottle Buddi, Plymouth
Frustrated with leaky water bottles causing all sorts of problems in her daughter’s school book bag, Sarah-Jane Hyde designed Bottle Buddi – a lightweight pouch that attaches to a book bag using press studs and allows children to carry their bag and water bottle in one hand. Since she started the business through selling on eBay Hyde has sold 13,000 Bottle Buddis and counting.
Schott Packaging, Darlington
When Tom Schott noticed the large number of discarded or unused cardboard boxes taking up spaces on the premises of his father’s removal business, he decided to list some on eBay in an effort to clear away the clutter. He obviously hadn’t counted on there being such a demand, because now – with the help of his friend and business partner Josh Grant – Schott Packaging employs a staff of five and is projected to turn over £1.1m this financial year.
Heavenly Homes and Gardens, Bristol
Jade Oliver was working as a corporate lawyer and running her homeware business in her time off when, in 2016, she decided to pack in the day job and dedicate herself to Heavenly Homes and Gardens full-time. It was a decision that has more than paid off and seen Oliver her rack up £100,000 in turnover and increase her eBay sales by 300%, as well as supplying products for film sets and fashion designers.
Agri Parts
After surviving four open-heart surgeries, Emilio Giordano has managed to turn his tractor parts and accessories startup into a global exporting business. Selling on eBay started as a way to enable Giordano to work around his health conditions, but soon turned into something much bigger and Agri Parts now has three stock-filled warehouses to supply clients from Israel to Russia to Puerto Rico.
Millions of people are using eBay to start a side hustle, make more of a hobby or carve out a career. Find out how here
