15-year-old Queenslander starts global print business

Hervey Bay high school student Bryce Hunt is taking on the big guns of print, having started his own print management business, Modern Print.

The 15-year-old told ProPrint that he had been struggling to find a job in the coastal Queensland city and saw a gap in the local market for printing and design services.

"I searched for 'printers' on Google because my family was actually looking for a new printer at the time. I noticed that you could get 1,000 business cards printed for $150," Hunt said. "I thought that was a bit expensive, so I thought I'd start my own business."

Funding the enterprise with $3,000 savings from working in his mum's hairdressing business, Hunt (pictured) now presides over a company that offers printed brochures, flyers, postcards, magnets, t-shirts, caps, mousepads, posters, banners, calendars, gift certificates and, of course, business cards, priced at $70 for 1,000 in full colour.

The internet-based company contracts a print shop based in the Netherlands, which mails the goods to Australia. Hunt has remote access to the company's print machines.

"It was a friend in the UK who used to live in the Netherlands that put me in touch with them," he said. "After that, they sent me the software to control the printers."

Hunt already has plans to expand his enterprise into web hosting and domain name sales, which he promises "will be the cheapest domain names in Australia".

"My goal is really to astound my customers with price and quality," he said.