At 16 years of age, Jonathan Barouch was already a successful entrepreneur, having bought and sold highly desirable commodities in the school yard, like lollipops!The story goes that he felt uncomfortable purchasing flowers for his girlfriend and after discussing the situation with friends, who had had a similar experience, realised there may be a market for a more convenient means of purchasing flowers. Shortly thereafter, in 1999, fastflowers.com.au was born. Since then, many online florists have come and gone, but fastflowers.com.au has continued to grow through sound business practice which includes a methodical approach to traffic driving strategies and product innovation. In 2001, Fastflowers.com.au branched into bricks and mortar stores launching two Sydney city stores. In 2005, they opened a large production facility in Enmore following in 2006 by a large retail store on Elizabeth St in Melbourne. Next year they aim to have stores in Brisbane and Auckland CBDs.At 22, Jonathan is one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs, having been a finalist in the Australia Post Small Business Awards as well as being a semi-finalist for Young Australian of the Year, 2003. He is a well-known and highly respected public speaker who is valued for his insights into developing a successful business. His role in developing the fastflowers.com.au are viewed as case studies on best practices in starting and evolving a retail business online. In 2003, Jonathan completed a BComm at UNSW and in 2004 completed his Honours in Economics on the subject of “Online Advertising Auctions” which occur on Google. In 2006, Jonathan completed a Masters in International Relations at the School of Political Science at UNSW. Jonathan has been named “A Future Rising Star” by the Sydney Morning Herald and is frequently in the media.
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