Home | Case Studies : Jamie Murray-Wells, Glasses Direct Jamie Murray-Wells, Glasses Direct  Jamie Murray-Wells Jamie Murray-Wells is the founder and Executive Chairman of Glasses Direct, which he started at university in 2004. Since then, the company has grown to become the largest online retailer of prescription glasses in the world. High-street opticians charge an average of £150 per pair of glasses, but Jamie found a way to offer the same products for £24 on the web. Despite early threats of legal action, and pressure on his suppliers from high street brands, Jamie fought to fully establish Glasses Direct in the optical market place, and now it is quickly becoming a household brand name. The company estimates it ships a pair of glasses every few minutes round the clock, and estimates that it has saved the UK public in excess of £30 million pounds on their glasses. Jamie has a passion for serving customers. Every day he speaks to and emails customers directly, helping with queries, collecting feedback, dealing personally with complaints, sometimes even hand delivering glasses, so that he can make sure all areas of the business are focused on delivering what its customers want. Recognition for his work heading up Glasses Direct saw him win the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007, NatWest Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Daily Mail Enterprising Young Brit. In 2005, he beat Sir Richard Branson, Sir Alan Sugar, and Stelios Haji-Ioannou to come 1st place in startups.co.uk’s list of that year’s top entrepreneurs. When he's not busy building Glasses Direct into a global brand, Jamie advises both major political parties on their new enterprise strategy and both comments and writes on enterprise and current affairs for national newspapers and broadcasters. Subjects he covers have included the postal strike, pre-budget reports from the Government, and capital gains tax. He has appeared on BBC News 24, Radio 5 Live, Tonight, GMTV, Sky News, and is regularly quoted in a variety of Fleet Street newspapers including the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph. Jamie takes an active interest in promoting UK entrepreneurialism, as an ambassador for UK Enterprise, by using the experience he has had bringing his business from the bedroom to the boardroom to provide advice, support and occasionally investment to other young entrepreneurs as well as being a National Judge for Enterprising Britain 2007 and also in 2008. Jamie is Holder of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. Related links | Quote Ian Williams, Director of Business and Industry, One NorthEast "The region thrives from having an entrepreneurial community. There are many more people who can benefit from making the leap into starting up their own business, and we are delighted we are able to support those who may not otherwise find it as easy to start up for personal reasons through Flexible Funding." |
