The Greater Manchester mobile barber nominated for top award after cutting hair for Tyson Fury and Fabio Borini

A mobile barber from Bolton has been nominated for a top award just ten months after starting his business.

Jignesh Madhavji started his mobile barber business Jiggi’s in June last year and has since worked at events including the MOBO awards and cut hair for the likes of sports stars, including Tyson Fury, Fabio Borini and Eidur Gudjohnsen, as well as celebrities and reality TV stars, like The Traitors contestant Jaz Singh.

Jiggi, who has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, said the idea for the business came after his barber shop Jiggi Salon and Spa - which was located within the Bolton Stadium Hotel right by Bolton Wanderers' home at the Toughsheet Community Stadium - closed after being impacted by the pandemic.

READ MORE: New York-style pizzeria and bar to move into former Stretford Foodhall venue

“I had the shop for ten years but a year after Covid, I felt like it was time for me to go onto something new,” Jiggi tells the M.E.N. “The pandemic gave me a bit of time to think about what I wanted to do going forward and helped make the decision up for me.”

Jiggi said that as businesses reopened for the pandemic, he briefly opened a new shop but decided that it was time for him to go freelance. He sold up the shop and invested his money in a van that he converted into a barber’s salon.

Decked out with a Takara Belmont barber chair, the van features salon lighting, windows and indoor heating. Since launching the business ten months ago, Jiggi says he has ‘no regrets’.

“I took a risk on it and ten months down the line, here I am,” he explained. “It’s about bringing the shop to people and I can take it anywhere. I travel across Greater Manchester and also do the Maker’s Markets in Ancoats once a month as well as the Wilmslow Artisan Markets.”

Thanks to the location of his previous shop next to Bolton Wanderers stadium, Jiggi has also been able to build up a client list of reputable sports stars with his Instagram page featuring photos of him cutting hair for the likes of cricketers Luke Wood and Jack Blatherwick as well as footballers Kenny Dougall, Sean Maguire, Declan John and Zach Clough.

He’s also cut hair for Tyson Fury and his boxing cousin Hughie, who hails from Stockport. “Tyson was great,” Jiggi recalled. “He’s been a few times. Great guy, really nice humble guy.”

Jiggi’s has now been named as a finalist for the New Kid On The Block award - which recognises businesses that started in the last eighteen months - at this year’s Small Business Awards.

With the ceremony taking place in London next month, a panel of industry experts will decide on the eventual winner. Jiggi says that, either way, the nomination is a testament to the hard work he’s put in over the last few months.

“I’m definitely chuffed,” he explains. “I only started the business ten months ago so it’s a great feeling to be able to get this type of recognition so early on."

You can follow Jiggi on Instagram here.