A Capel Hendre-born businessman has revealed that selling sweets to his friends in the school playground has led him to become a CEO of a company reaching an annual million pounds turnover.

Former Tregib pupil Vinnie Morgan launched BookingLive in 2009 with a mission to develop a booking software.

BookingLive, based in Bristol, is a cloud-based booking system that works with some well-known names including Sky, Transport for London, Greene King and Rick Stein’s Cookery Courses.

Vinnie said: “It all started for me when I was selling sweets in school.

“I would go to Macro and buy supplies of sweets for 5p per pack and would sell them for 20p

“There wasn’t many 14 year-olds going home from school with £50 in their pocket.”

After completing a business degree and a masters at Teesside University in Newcastle, and achieving a successful freelance background, the next stage for Vinnie was to set-up his own business.

“When I set-up my first company, I was a student at Teesside University,” the 33-year-old added.

“Booking Live is a platform where companies can take online bookings and payments for venues or events and we currently have 17 members of staff.

“Over 20 councils use the system and we also have around 140 enterprise clients.”

10 years down the line and several awards later, including Entrepreneur of the Year 2009, Vinnie would recommend any budding entrepreneurs to go ahead with their dream.

He said: “I would definitely encourage anyone who is interested in opening up their own business to go for it.

“I think anyone can start their own business. It is cost effective, quick and you can fit the role to your lifestyle.”

Booking Live is set to go through a big growth phase later this year when they up their booking system to any organisation of any size, instead of just large enterprise-sized clients.

The business, which is available by visiting bookinglive.com, will be taking on international clients over the summer.