Share When Ben Francis was working at Pizza Hut making £4 ($7) an hour while attending university in Birmingham, he was hand-sewing T-shirts and hoping that local gym junkies would buy his product. Less than a decade later, the 28-year-old co-founder of Gymshark is majority owner of a global fitness brand valued at more than $US1.45 billion ($1.86 billion). Ben Francis is founder, chief marketing officer and major shareholder of Gymshark, valued at over $US1.45 billion. The company is nipping at the heels of industry giants such as Nike, Adidas and Lululemon Athletica, and is doing it using the ultimate in 21st century strategies – all-digital sales channels and marketing that relies wholly on ‘genuine’ social media influencers.