ALUMNI PROFILE: LUKE BOSTON, AWARD-WINNING ELECTRICAL ENGINEER AND BUSINESSMAN

Luke Boston, former student, and co-owner BSA Electrical is celebrating after scooping two accolades at the recent Richmondshire Business Awards – the Best New Business Award and the David Doorbar Award for Excellence. So, what better time, to catch up with Luke, who left us in 2013 after completing his A-levels. Not only is he now a successful businessman but he is also maintaining strong links with Richmond School and Sixth Form College by taking on students as apprentices,  most recently Sam Brooks, in Year 11 who will start working at BSA Electrical in the summer.

Here’s what Luke had to say:

I attended Richmond School from 2006-2011, and enjoyed my time there. So much so, that I decided to stay on and do A-levels at the Sixth Form College, as I didn’t know what I wanted to do upon completing my GCSE’s.

I studied Business, History and Economics A-levels. Towards the end of my two years, I had no idea what I was going to do. University never appealed to me. Nearly every person in my year was writing their personal statement for university, and I felt like I was missing out on something!

However, a couple of weeks before my A -level exams, I applied for an apprenticeship to become an electrician at a local firm in Brompton-on-Swale. It wasn’t something I really wanted to do, but I felt it would be good for me to learn a trade (as my dream was to do property developer and I thought it might come in handy!!).

I sat my last exam on the Friday, and on the Monday I turned up for work at 08:00 – I haven’t looked back since. It is the single best thing I have done. I loved my time as an apprentice, working with other young lads on sites, building relationships with people and learning as I was earning! I attended Darlington College for a day a week on a four-year apprenticeship programme, and it was all very interesting and I gained a NVQ Level 3 in Electo-technical installation.

I always wanted to run my own business, but I didn’t know what in. I was inspired by my Grandad, who had a haulage business and I loved spending time there as a kid. The office was always exciting, and I always enjoyed working on the wagons.

It just so happened that being an electrician enabled me to do exactly that. In March 2020, BSA Electrical Ltd was formed, with just me and three other lads. Since then, we have grown to have 6 electricians, 3 apprentices, and a part-time admin assistant (my mother) in our office up on the trading estate in Richmond.

One of the biggest challenges is time. Everything takes so much time, and there isn’t enough of it. If there were more hours in the day and more days in the week, it would be easy. However, there isn’t. You just have to work as hard as you can for as long as you can. There is no time to be lazy, and you have to be driven. It is a lot of hard work, and I never really stop working, even on night times and weekends (the phone doesn’t stop going), but I wouldn’t change it for the world. We are a tight-knit team and we all really enjoy what we do.

In April 2022, we won the ‘Best New Business’ award at Richmondshire Business Awards, along with the biggest award of the year ‘David Doorbar Award for Excellence’, one chosen by a panel of other local business-people. It was something I’d never expected us to win, as there are so many brilliant local businesses. However, we really appreciate the acknowledgement from other businesses, and it means a lot to us, as we all work very hard to provide a reliable and professional service. This is a massive achievement for a small start-up business, and has just spurred us on to work even harder to keep the reputation of the business climbing.

I’d definitely recommend applying for an apprenticeship. You earn as you learn, become independent very quickly, and get to work with like-minded people on a daily basis. University is the right choice for a lot of people, but for me the apprenticeship route is a fantastic opportunity not to be missed!

I am so proud that as a company we look to apprentices to help develop and future proof the business.  Currently we have three former students from Richmond School – Kyle Galloway, Ben Metcalfe, Connor Simpson.  All three lads are great lads, hard workers and a massive asset to BSA Electrical and we are looking forward to Sam Brooks joining them in the summer.

The advice I would give for any students who would like to be their own boss is that they have to be prepared to work hard – in everything. Don’t just think that stuff will come to you. You have to go out and get it. Life isn’t easy, if it was, everybody would be really successful. To be successful, you have to work hard and be a good person. Simple as that.