#BirminghamMeansBusiness: Ben Francis, the youth and soul of unicorn status Gymshark

The world’s most famous entrepreneurs have a couple of things in common - among those, a humble beginning. Never being great at school, at the age of 17, West-Midlands-native-Ben Francis, found a new passion for IT.

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Combined with his newfound hobby of fitness, his natural entrepreneurial spirit prompted him to create two fitness apps.

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Ben’s ambition knew no bounds. Wanting to make his side-hustle transactional, he used the money from his Pizza Hut delivery gig and successful app to begin dropshipping fitness supplements. What started off as a simple merging of passions soon turned into lucrative gymwear giant, Gymshark.

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Built with all the glamour and sweat of a billion pound business, yet the personal touch of a start-up, its direct-to-consumer model and social media influencer marketing has developed a cult following like no other in the industry.

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“We know every single customer that has ever bought from Gymshark from the first order, I think there are very few brands that can say that specifically in the athleisure space.”

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Ben Francis, Vogue Business 2022

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With a staggering 65M combined following across platforms, as well as becoming the first DTC brand in the UK to achieve Unicorn status with no external capital funding. Gymshark’s story is nothing short of inspirational to all entrepreneurs both locally and worldwide.

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Francis attributes a pivotal part of his success to his laidback upbringing - accrediting his work ethic to his dad who worked for AT&T. His success not only puts Birmingham on the map as a UK business capital, but has since sparked hope in entrepreneurs who may have struggled academically to follow in his footsteps. Already featured on Forbes 30 under 30, Francis is a testament to maintaining a never-say-die attitude in order to succeed.

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Often giving back to the community by being the first patron of Birmingham’s Children and Women’s hospital and using local companies for employee training programmes, Francis takes a refreshing and humble approach to company growth.

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“Ben is a fantastic advocate for our city, for our region, for young people, and in particular young people’s mental health.”

Sarah-Jane Mars, Chief Executive Birmingham Children’s and Women’s NHS Foundation Trust

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Celebrating Gymshark surpassing £1 billion pound value with a Nando's, promoting Gymshark with body positive influencers, and briefly stepping down from CEO to better his management, Francis’ ethos of authenticity runs through the company and undoubtedly takes after Birmingham’s spirit.

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This story is part of the x+why's #BirminghamMeansBusiness series, sharing the stories of some of Birmingham's wonderful entrepreneurs as we celebrate being part of the vibrant Birmingham business community.

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