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Saturday, September 5, 2015

Meet Nick Sutherland, Entrepreneur

Nick Sutherland is a 17-year-old entrepreneur who started his business out of the basement of his home. He then grew it to what it is known today, and the company, HQC International, has warehouses globally.

1. What gave you the idea to start your own business?

Back in 2013, I took a high school business entrepreneur course, and I started up a small phone fixit business called CellFurb. While fixing phones, I soon realized that there were no phone part suppliers in Canada. I then began research on where I could find high quality parts and began to establish relationships with Chinese manufacturers. By late 2013, I came to the conclusion that I had found a market niche and began work on my new sole proprietorship business, HQCParts.

2. As a young person running a business out of your home, how did your family and friends respond?

As a young teenager running a business out of my home, my parents were very supportive and proud. As HQCParts grew, my mother used her own business knowledge to encourage and support me. My friends were customers of CellFurb and were very interested and supportive of my new business.

3. Do you sell spare parts to individuals doing DIY projects to repair their electronics, or do you only supply parts on a wholesale basis to retail repair shops?

We generally we supply to our wholesale customers but we do offer individual part sales on our website (ShopHQC.com).

4. What do you think were the key factors in your business growing from your basement to warehouses worldwide?

In late 2014, I came across an opportunity to partner with a prominent customer. With Derek's support, we were able to take HQCParts to the company it is known as today.

5. How did you come to choose the name HQC International?

When trying to come up with a name, I came across the slogan High Quality CellPhone Parts but then decided to adopt that name as HQCParts. After about a year of HQCParts, we decided to reflect our growing sphere of international business and changed it to HQC International. In the beginning of 2015, we incorporated the business, creating HQC International Inc.

Thanks, Nick!

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