Birmingham entrepreneurs join forces for new business venture

Online review community goes live.

Innovation Birmingham Campus-based digital marketplace entrepreneurs, Jack Telford and Martin Jones, have launched a new online search platform – Bazaar66.

Bazaar66 is an online marketplace review community that helps consumers choose a marketplace with confidence, while enabling online marketplaces to grow both buyers and sellers. The platform will cover the travel, education, services, jobs, accommodation and retail sectors.

Jack Telford is Founder of digital recruitment provider, Total Freelance; an online platform which connects quality, UK-based freelancers, contractors and independent professionals with business owners, entrepreneurs, hiring managers, internal recruiters and consultants. The company has experienced continual growth with a 50% increase of both jobs and users in the last six months.

Martin Jones is Founder of Trobs, an online recruitment platform and database of available staff for the construction industry. The platform now has over 2,500 worker created profiles and over 600 recruiter jobs.

Jack Telford, Founder at Total Freelance, said: “e4f has provided Martin and I with an excellent environment in which to grow our own marketplaces and to venture into new projects. The office space, community and resources at Innovation Birmingham Campus have enabled us to efficiently turn Bazaar66 from an idea to a digital service very quickly.

“We anticipate that online marketplaces will continue to emerge in significance over the next few years, however there currently isn’t a place to find and compare online marketplaces easily in one place. Bazaar66 will buck this trend by collating key information from six key sectors – essentially turning it into a virtual shopping mall to rival those that currently only service one specific area.”

The platform launched earlier this month following an extensive market research programme and the appointment of Business Development Director, John Prapas who will be key to developing the company marketing strategy.

Martin Jones, Founder at Trobs, said: “Jack and I both have first-hand experience with building online marketplaces and therefore have a unique understanding of the online marketplace ecosystem. Our digital marketing and research backgrounds will be perfectly complimented by John’s understanding of the digital marketplace from a millennial perspective.

“Following the launch of Bazaar66 we are looking to further expanding the team in the imminent future and are keen to speak with graduates from a copywriting background who may be interested in new opportunities to develop their existing employment portfolio.”

Total Freelance and Trobs are two of 120 tech start-ups to have been incubated by the Entrepreneurs for the Future programme since November 2009. With over £11.5 million raised in initial investment rounds, the programme has also contributed to creation of over 200 new jobs.