A Leeds dad-of-two who was homeless less than five years ago has set up a successful business to give back to the community.
Matthew Colley served in the Royal Dragoon Guards and was made homeless after the breakdown of the relationship with the mother of his two children. He spent a long time going from sofa to sofa.
He got in contact with the council but was put on a long waiting list for a council flat, meaning he was spending a lot of time at his mother's house with his two children, who he had split custody of. Matthew was suffering from poor mental health at the time and so got in contact the Armed Forces charity SSAFA.
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They told him that as he was a veteran, he was entitled to high priority status for a home. Eventually, 12 months later while he was still sofa surfing with his two kids, he was given a council flat in Leeds.
Matthew then started his first business. He said: "Initially, I started a business called Staged Media Group and I had zero experience within the market space of design, print and all that stuff but I just taught myself through YouTube tutorial videos, believe it or not!
"I was going through quite a tough stage in my life with depression and whatnot. My mum was coming down to the flat on a regular basis to make sure I'd not done anything silly because it got to that stage."
Matthew's business soon grew and won an award for being the best small sign business in the UK. He even managed to raise £20,000 for the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as dropping off food and drink for the NHS staff.
Now, he has set up a new business to help give back to the Leeds community which he says helped him through the tough periods in his life. Called All Star Prizes, the business allows people to win expensive prizes, such as cars, for a low amount of money.
Typically, you spend 99p to enter a raffle to see if you can win. Matthew said: "We had an idea to be able to give just your average working class family the opportunity to win life changing prizes for a small amount."
He added: "Believe it or not, our first ever competition was Easter Eggs and the competition that we are running now is for a £90,000 prize pot where the end prize is a brand new Audi A3 Saloon."
Matthew is also continuing to give back to the community in other ways, he donated more than £1,000 of furniture to DIY SOS and has worked closely with Martin House Children's Hospice.
He said: "I think because it's such a rewarding business and some days you might be tired or stressed out but then when you hand over the keys to a car or you're giving somebody £10,000 into the bank and making a difference, it kind of brings it home, the difference you make into people's lives right away."
Matthew does not intend to stop here either, the company has recently moved into a new office in Leeds and he plans to start running a podcast to use his influence to draw attention to charities and community groups across Leeds. He also hopes to set up a training scheme for children so they can get advice on running a business from business leaders across the city.
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