Jamal Edwards

Jamal Edwards started SB.TV at the age of just 16 with a video camera he got for Christmas. Six years on his YouTube channel has over 150,000 subscribers, and offers broadcasting, production, editorial services, merchandise and live events.

Jamal Edwards

Jamal Edwards started SB.TV at the age of just 16 with a video camera he got for Christmas. In the early days, Jamal filmed MCs on estates around London and uploaded them to YouTube.

Six years on, his YouTube channel has over 87 million views and 150,000 subscribers. It is seen as one of UK’s hottest youth channels­ offering broadcasting, production, editorial services, merchandise and live events.

Jamal says the moment when he realised he could earn money doing something he loved was the moment he decided to make his business dream a reality.

He was working full time in a high street retailer, but people would come in to work and ask him for videos. He struck a partnership with YouTube to capitalise on their popularity: ‘The money from YouTube was matching my wages, so I thought: do something I love. SBTV is the way.’

For Jamal, the excitement comes from being able to do what you want to do.

‘You don’t have to answer to anyone else. If I had an idea, it had ten people to go through before it reached the person it needed to go to. Now I can do what I want and run with it. It’s about freedom.’

Now Jamal is the boss and he has 12 people working for him. He loves bringing people in and giving them some inspiration: ‘I really enjoy it’.

But ultimately, he says, it’s about chasing your own dreams; ‘Go for it, because people told me I couldn’t do it and I just didn’t listen, I just did it. Chase your dream, not the competition’.