Rising star Fabrice Ward
What's so special? The company is the first to bring fully personalised laptops with graphics and hardware to market

Fabrice Ward was certain that the trend to personalise consumer goods would grow, so he set up My Brand Tech with entrepreneur Hubert Jouve this year to give laptops an individual look.

The company uses a Chinese manufacturer, which brands logos or messages on to machines using a production technique called in-mould lamination. "We anticipate that in a couple of years this will be standard," says Ward. "Our objective is to build our brand so if someone wants a personalised machine, they'll go to the company they've heard of."

He says the hardware is as reliable as any well-known brand. "The specification is the same as any other manufacturer. People think there's a difference between a Dell and a Toshiba, but frequently the hardware inside is generic." The partnership spent six months researching a company that could meet their strict requirements, he adds.

Jouve expects turnover in the first year to reach £1m, and after that the prospects for growth are good. "There is plenty of manufacturing capacity in China—they can make 10 to 100,000 computers," he says. "It's just a question of building demand. It's a time of opportunity for good ideas."

Ward adds: "It's always hard whether it's a recession or a boom time." But he's confident that the business will diversify. "It's easy to apply this to mobile phones. But for now we want to keep it simple. It's a very single-minded proposition."