ENTERPRISING York teenager Josh Sharp set up his own security business following a spate of break-ins in his community.

Josh, of Copmanthorpe, set up his business, Motive Control, two years ago when he was just 17 - and is now expanding to offer more services.

Josh, 19, said: "In December 2018 we started to have problems in our village with break-ins during the night.

"Before this, I had already been looking into security for our own home and had installed the system myself, so I had a good idea of how to secure a home.

"I decided to reach out to the local community group and held a meeting at the local library to see what steps we could take to better protect the local community.

"At the meeting, I discussed the different options and mentioned how I had already done this at my own house. From this meeting, nearly everyone who attended was interested in having home security similar to what I had installed, so I sent a message to everyone saying I had decided to start up my own business to provide the services."

The past two years have been a bit of a rollercoaster for Josh, who began an apprenticeship but was then furloughed at the start of the Covid pandemic. He also started university, but felt he was missing out because in-person teaching was on hold.

So he decided to throw his energies back into the business while also picking up a part-time job at Tesco.

He has a new van and has completed online training courses with many of the manufacturers of products he uses in his security systems. He is working with home owners as well as businesses, and is also offering a new service to improve wifi connections for customers.

He said: "Starting again was hard but I soon learnt that the best way to gain more traction was to get my name out there which has worked really well for me."

He added that he is already gaining great reviews on Google and Trust Pilot.

One reviewer posted: "Motive ACP took the time to listen to our needs, and offered an alarm system paying closer attention to detail than another major provider. We’re delighted with the quality of the system, which includes sensors on all viable access points and an alert to a mobile if the alarm is triggered when we are off site."

He also has an Instagram page so "people can see the quality of our work".

Looking ahead, Josh says he would like to expand by taking on more staff and opening an office.

He said: "We are looking to rolling out a maintenance programme as well as IT management. Eventually we would like to be the one company people would ring for all their needs - we are not there yet!"