62
Interview
PowerList 2010
Upward
mobility
Being temporarily disabled after an injury gave roger Lynch the
inspiration for a business that has changed thousands of lives and
made him a millionaire. Akosua Annobil-Dodoo met him
i
t was always at the back of my mind to make a million. i used to disabled. i was in a wheelchair and i couldn’t move, but their
write a one and six zeros on my bedroom wall and tell myself i argument was i could get better. they gave me a load of leaflets, and i
would make it one day.” tried everywhere suggested, but couldn’t get the help i needed. it was
Although roger Lynch believed he would become a successful madness.”
businessman, little did he know that his darkest moment would pave He suffered two-and-a-half years of torment before making a full
the way for his greatest triumph. recovery. “i went to see a specialist who found i was diabetic. it was
Lynch’s business acumen was palpable from an early age. “My because of the diabetes that i was unable to heal properly. once they
mum would give me a little pocket money every week, and i told her found out what it was i got on the mend.”
i didn’t need it because i was making my own. i would make papier that horrendous experience – sometimes the only way Lynch
mache models and sell them for £2 or £3 to the neighbours. By the could get around was when his friends quite literally carried him
time i left school i’d saved around £1,500.” – became the catalyst for ruskin Private Hire, a specialist welfare
in his late teens, Lynch was an aspiring athlete and trained at transport firm Lynch and business partner Andrew Nelson founded in
Haringey Athletics Club – the UK’s most successful sports club at 1997 that transports disabled people.
the time. “seb Coe was in our team and quite a few other prominent “Luckily i got better, but there are other people who never will,
athletes who are household names today,” he says. “But i realised and that’s the reason why i decided to take up the challenge,” he
athletics may not be for me, and started to look at the marketing and says. “we started with one wheelchair-access vehicle; i did the driving
promotion of the club instead.” and Andrew escorted. i then went to all the hospitals, councils and
‘if the community is enhanced, the community will
make sure your business is a success’
Lynch earned cash selling sportswear to his team-mates, and even organisations that turned me away and pestered them like mad; telling
took over the club’s uniform contracts. He says: “i would buy jerseys them what i went through. eventually, we were given a contract to
from a friend of mine, simon Millet [founder of successful chain store look after one child in the London borough of southwark. After that,
Millet sports], then sell them at the track. the club eventually gave me the London boroughs of Croydon and Bexley came along. one child
the franchise for the kit.” became two, then four, then eight – and it started from there.”
Despite his sales success, Lynch, then 21, returned to running. ruskin now boasts 600 public-service vehicles and a 21-strong
then disaster struck and his life changed forever: “i was training management team working for local councils across the country, and
hard, then all of a sudden, bang! My Achilles tendon snapped. i had an transports 5,000 people a day. in 2005, the company was awarded an
operation, but my leg wouldn’t heal properly and i couldn’t walk or get accolade for National Accessible Provider of the Year and received a
around anywhere.” nomination in the prestigious routeoNe operator excellence Awards
worse was to come when four months later his other Achilles also in 2006. “we were also asked by transport for London to represent
snapped. He explains: “i had to move back to my parents’ house for a them at the winter Garden summit to show what accessibility London
while, and i was depending on friends. i began to feel like a burden and had done in its run-up to bidding for the 2012 olympics,” Lynch adds.
was very disheartened.” “we never imagined the likes of big plcs would come to the doorstep
in an attempt to salvage some independence, Lynch approached of a little black man with his small business based in south London.”
his local council for support: “i asked them for help with getting A training arm of ruskin was launched two years ago when Lynch
around, but they told me i wasn’t entitled to it because i was not identified some shortcomings in his employees’ education levels:
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