{"id":229811,"date":"2025-07-01T17:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/229811\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:06:12","slug":"two-mates-who-had-no-hope-now-making-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/229811\/","title":{"rendered":"Two mates who had ‘no hope’ now making millions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Carroll, Will Parkinson and others have built up Bloxt Eco Solutions from scratch\"MatthewMatthew Carroll and Will Parkinson, who run Bloxt Eco Solutions(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Two school friends<\/a> who \u201cstarted with nothing\u201d now run a million-pound business. Matthew Carroll and Will Parkinson grew up on a council estate<\/a> together in Garston<\/a> and felt like opportunities were stacked against them.<\/p>\n

They left school with no GCSEs but found work as labourers. Matthew, who qualified as a plumber and gas engineer, grew very unhappy after setting up his own business. He felt it became too focussed on making money and also struggled with his ADHD<\/a>. One day in November, 2023, Matthew decided he\u2019d had enough.<\/p>\n

After getting in touch with Will, they set up their own environmental energy firm with no outside funding.<\/p>\n

Less than two years later, they\u2019re making millions in part due to a seven-figure partnership with a top six UK utility provider. Bloxt Eco Solutions, based in Knowsley<\/a> Industrial Park, offers free upgrades to make your boiler far more energy efficient and cuts bills by hundreds of pounds a year in the process.<\/p>\n

Over time, they have recruited Jessica Stout, 20, from Croxteth<\/a> Park, as the business manager, in addition to Sam Eaton, 25, from Huyton<\/a>, as the eco development manager and Bait Ur Rehman, 25, from Anfield<\/a>, as a software developer.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the ECHO<\/a> about his background, Will, 30, who now lives in Croxteth Park, said: \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much prosperity after school. We had good friends who were really clever and went to good schools. There wasn\u2019t much hope for the likes of us.<\/p>\n

Matthew, 30, who now lives in West Derby<\/a>, added: \u201cWe don’t even have GCSEs. I’m dyslexic. Will’s got a bit more brains than me, but we don’t have qualifications.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is a mental health day for me. That\u2019s how ADHD works. Three of my mates took their own lives and I think that was the eye opener for me, seeing that people need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WillWill Parkinson and Matthew Carroll(centre left & right) with Bait Ur Rehman(software developer) and Sam Eaton(development manager)(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Matthew became a plumber and then a gas engineer before running his own environmentally friendly energy business, but he felt the investors made it too focused on making money and he struggled to get his ideas across to them.<\/p>\n

Matthew said: \u201dI hated it. One day I just had enough and hit my rock bottom with my mental health. I remember sitting on the couch in my old office with a lot of the lads I employed. They didn\u2019t want me to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter they left Jessica said, \u2018what are you going to do? You have to get out of here and chase what you want\u2019. I will never forget it – I was sitting in the car and said to Will, let’s just go for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started with nothing and I knew I needed someone who I could trust. We built it up with no money.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, they soon began to build up a reputation. Will, who previously worked in house building, said: \u201dWe started out with home emergency stuff, roofing, plumbing, drainage, working lots of weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we got in with the energy supplier and that was a huge opportunity to push even harder with government grants and home installations for people that are living in fuel poverty – trying to give them boiler upgrades and solar panels, in a better future for net zero basically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew added: \u201cWe\u2019ve made \u00a31.8m so far, and with the contract it\u2019ll be about \u00a33.5m.<\/p>\n

Jessica said: \u201cThe eco side is big for us. We just grew up in normal, everyday households who would have really benefitted from things like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our experience from being from those types of families helped push us to get involved, especially with the energy prices being so high. There are old people sitting in the house with a woolly hat and gloves on, it\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese measures that we can install genuinely do help them and it doesn\u2019t cost them anything. It\u2019s really heartwarming to see the things we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will added: \u201cWe\u2019re upgrading boilers that are 30 years old and saving people hundreds of pounds a year. We insulate the walls too, which makes the house a lot warmer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew got in touch with Bait over the IT side of things and was so impressed that he travelled to see him. Afterwards, Matthew convinced him to move to Merseyside and work with Bloxt. Bait now lives in Anfield and feels at home.<\/p>\n

\"WillWill and Matthew started Bloxt Eco Solutions in 2023(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Bait said: \u201cYou spoke to me about what dishes I eat, my religion, things like that. It was a great conversation. It\u2019s been a good experience because I have no relatives here.<\/p>\n

“Matthew told me he would help me out. Then I met the rest and they are great people. I feel very comfortable with them. It\u2019s like being part of a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The friends say they\u2019re committed to helping Merseyside in any way they can. After the attack on the mosque in Southport<\/a> last year, they used their connections with B&Q and other firms to help rebuild the walls outside.<\/p>\n

This led to them receiving a visit from King Charles III along with other volunteers who helped out after the riots at Southport Fire Station. They were also invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace last year and are working on other charitable projects going forward.<\/p>\n

Matthew said: \u201cIt was scary. They were attacking the mosque and we wanted to rebuild it. For me, it doesn\u2019t matter about the money. It\u2019s about helping people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith mental health, the goal is to show that you can speak up and you don\u2019t have to be afraid. We want to calibrate with more mental health organisations to help get awareness out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Receiving recognition from the royals was a major milestone for the business. Jessica said: \u201cWe’ve only been going for 18 months. It’s not a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve met the King, we\u2019ve been to Buckingham Palace. Everyone says wow, how have you achieved that too quickly? It is amazing to see how quickly it’s turned into something really good.<\/p>\n

Will added: \u201cSometimes you struggle to take that risk but life is all about risk, isn’t it? If you want to go every day without a risk, life’s going to be boring, isn’t it? Risks are there to be taken. So enjoy your life and go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Carroll, Will Parkinson and others have built up Bloxt Eco Solutions from scratchMatthew Carroll and Will Parkinson,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,2643,4884,6333,458,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-229811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-garston","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-housing","13":"tag-knowsley","14":"tag-liverpool","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114779074444548940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}