James Baillie

with nothing and every opportunity I have today has been carved out by myself. At the age of 12, I had two paper rounds, at 16 I went straight into work from school to support my family financially on a £30 a week two-year apprenticeship; I starting my first company with £80 in my pocket from my bedroom, recording £2m in sales year one - something I’m very proud of in 2006.

My Business Overview: Founder, CEO, innovator, builder and leader of companies, growing businesses from scratch; building teams and powering $billions across international markets with a focus on emerging economies like China & South East Asia.

I have spent the last 27 years in supply chain, distribution, ecommerce and tech where I am uniquely armed with a complete 360 view of business; all departmental functions and technology through to business development with some of the biggest companies in the world.

In 2005, I relocated to China full time and over the next decade made a big difference to the supply chain and ecommerce sector working with global brands and tech companies in China including Alibaba, JD, Tencent and Amazon powering more than $1bn+ in digital sales over the last 15 years.

Since moving back full time to the UK in 2016, I have focused on my family as a single father, building two start up companies in commerce, payments and banking, and advising boards and management teams across the world on crossborder commerce, ecommerce technology and ways to optimise and do things better.