[Narrator] Meet Darren Tenkorang.
He's an entrepreneur from London
who founded and runs Trim-It.
Trim-It is a mobile barbershop service
that allows customers to get a fresh haircut
right outside their doorstep.
And it's all booked through an app.
Darren now has a solid team of four full-time employees
and five vans.
But his journey to where he is today
wasn't an easy one.
Tenkorang: The way Trim-It started,
or the way it came about, is that
I actually entered a business competition.
But the reason why I entered the business competition is
because I did a placement working in the corporate sector.
I was working in insurance.
I loved it for the first six months.
But then after the first six months, I realized
that I was just really struggling,
and the reason why I was struggling is because I'm dyslexic.
So out of fear, I said to myself, I have to actually
control my destiny and create a business.
I didn't know what business it would be.
But I've had many instances going to the barbershop
and I've had to wait hours.
And there's one particular time where
Arsenal conceded a goal, the barbers went crazy,
kind of flicked my fade up a little bit,
and I just had a terrible experience.
And I was thinking to myself, how can I refine this?
Not only do I have to -- not only do I not
want to have to to wait,
but I wanted to make sure that
the experience is special and, like, really tailored
to the customer.
And I thought maybe putting a barbershop
in the back of a van.
And at the time it sounded daft, but now that
it's actually come into life, like, it makes so much sense.
So it's an idea that makes no sense
but complete sense all at the same time.
[Narrator] After winning £10,000
from the business competition, Darren then went on
to start Trim-It and assemble his first mobile van.
But creating a barbershop in the back of a transit van
is no easy endeavor,
especially if you have no building experience prior.
So how did Darren go about putting together
his first mobile barbershop?
Tenkorang: So what I did is I got two builders
that my friends and family knew.
I'd actually sit them in my house.
So we created the first mobile barbershop in my house.
We'd watch YouTube videos of how to convert camper vans.
- Look how organized it is.
This champion.
Tenkorang: And everything was just a complete experiment.
And lucky the first van turned out to be quite OK.
But, like, we've had issues when it comes to the electric.
We've had issues when it comes to making sure
that it's structurally sound, so it's, like, movement-proof.
And we've had to just really do a trial-and-error thing.
But we've gotten to the stage where we know how
to now convert a van into a mobile barbershop.
[Narrator] Trim-It works via an app,
where customers sign up and then find
one of Trim-It's barbers assigned to your local area.
The service operates under a subscription model,
where customers get a certain amount
of haircuts dependent on their subscription.
Once signed up, you pick your time slot
and then wait for the barber to arrive at your door.
We followed Trim-It's head barber, Kris,
for a day on the job.
Kris Robinson: When I first heard about Trim-It,
I wasn't sure what it was.
And then when I got introduced to it,
then I got explained further that
they're building a barbershop in a van,
which I thought was crazy. Like, it's out of this world.
So then I thought, you know what, this sounds interesting.
And then the more and more I got to meet Darren,
they really started to just show me what
it's really about, and I just, like, fell in love with
the idea as well.
I had previously worked in a barbershop before
I joined Trim-It, for about a month.
And I'd been in a barbershop around other barbers,
around more noise. Like, there's a lot more distractions.
And for me personally, I work best by myself.
So with the van and, like, me being alone with
a client works just perfectly for me.
I can build a relationship with my client.
When I know I'm, like, in control of my environment,
I work better in that aspect, yeah.
[Narrator] And what does a Trim-It customer
have to say about the service?
- You know what it is, like, I like the fact that
I can put in for the trim
and it kind of comes to where I live.
So yeah, that makes it a lot easier.
And also it's just no waiting time.
When you go to a barber, you're not certain
that you're going to get trimmed straightaway.
So you're wasting time sitting down in the shop like that.
This is kind of, like, a good work-around for that.
Yeah, it fits here in my life pretty well.
It's really good, man, A-star service.
And an A-star trim at the end, really.
Best trim I've ever had, still.
Tenkorang: So I definitely think that Trim-It
and the mobile experience, especially in the back of
a van, is definitely the future of barbering.
Not only are we providing convenience and a slick service,
but you still get that intimacy with your barber.
I don't think it's actually going to
destroy barbering or destroy the high-street barber,
because some people just like to go to the barbershop.
But it will definitely be a very good alternative,
and that's what I wanted to be able to capitalize on.
At the moment, we have five mobile barbershops,
and you might think I'm crazy, but I want 500.
And we're going to be raising some more investment.
But right now, we just want to make sure
that our operation is slick and that we're just keeping
to our goals, which is to be a convenient, safe,
and amazing experience for our customers.