After launching CoolTowel in 2023 on TikTok and Shopify, 15-year-old Harrison Nott, from Maldon, juggled studying for his GCSEs alongside packing orders and managing his own limited company in his home.

CoolTowel delivers cooling relief by wetting, wringing and snapping the towel with the three-layer polyester material holding onto moisture.

Harrison was hitting £15,000 in one day at a summer peak, and now turns over £200,000 per annum, with the teen documenting his journey through entrepreneurship on social media to his 50,000 followers.

CoolTowel boss – Harrison Nott has won $200,000 for his business in a start-up competition (Image: SWNS/Harrison Nott)

On Friday, Harrison travelled to London for CoCreate Europe, Alibaba.com’s flagship B2B event which saw 30 finalists shortlisted from thousands of small and medium businesses across Europe globally pitch to a star-studded panel of judges.

Each completed a 90-second presentation, with Harrison’s pitch described by judges as “fantastic” and a “brilliant product”.

The young entrepreneur secured the $200,000 prize package, beating out fierce competition from across the continent with businesses from Germany, France, Italy and beyond.

Harrison, chief executive and founder of CoolTowel, said: “I’m speechless.

“I have worked so hard to get here and didn’t expect to win.

“CoCreate Europe has been a great event. I couldn’t be any more grateful to Alibaba.com for the opportunity.”

Founder – Harrison trademarked his brand with the help of his business teacher and became a limited company at the end of the year (Image: SWNS/Harrison Nott)

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But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

Speaking in July, Harrison revealed he had started his first proper business at age eight, followed by several failing start-ups which lost money.

He said: “I’ve seen my dad running a business my whole life and I’ve always wanted to run my own, and have the financial control to do things for myself.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes but now I’ve got the formula and the idea to scale the business up.

“I want to see how far I can get with CoolTowel. I think I can only go so far with it and long term I’d like to build up a personal brand and become well-known for being an entrepreneur.”