Steven Smith

Steven Smith is a serial entrepreneur and mentor best known for founding Poundland and turning a market stall idea into a billion-pound national retail institution. At the age of 17 he opened his first million-pound turnover shop in West Bromwich;'he helped grow the family business Hootys to become Europe's biggest cash & Carry. When Hootys was sold in December 1989, he created the Poundland brand with a '50,000 loan from his dad. Everybody said it will never work, but Steven proved them wrong, especially as 85% of the population of Great Britain has been in or purchased something from a Poundland store.' Steven's simple commercial philosophy, 'there are no bad products; only bad prices,' underpins a career defined by practical innovation and relentless focus on value.' Poundland was one of the fastest-growing companies in its time;'it created thousands of jobs and had offices in Wolverhampton, Hong Kong, China and India. The warehouse that Steven designed and built (the retail sup