At 19, I became the co-owner of a business. This is what that looked like, and what came after.
August 2022 to August 2026
Co-Owner & Co-Managing Director
Zwemshop Geel / Speedo Brand Store Belgium, Geel
19
age at acquisition
4 yrs
co-managing the business
€1.2m
cumulative revenue over those years, approximately
Brecht Carchon50%
Ruben Carchon50%
Today my brother runs the shop day to day. I remain a 50% co-owner.
How it started
Ruben studied the same bachelor as I did, SME Management & Entrepreneurship.
Bachelor thesisRuben researches whether physical swimming stores are still needed.
Interview number twoHis second interview for the thesis is with the owner of a swimming store. During that conversation, she asks whether he would like to take over the business.
Three days laterWe start working on the opportunity together.
August 2022We take over Zwemshop Geel. I am 19.
The deal
We took over from an owner who had run the store for ten years and had really grown it. That made it a personal deal, and one that ran on trust.
1Trust first
Handing over ten years of work asked a lot of the seller, and a lot of us as people. The whole process was handled in confidence and on trust.
2The premises
There was no separate goodwill payment. We acquired the premises without negotiating the price aggressively, so part of the value of the business was effectively reflected in the price of the property.
3The Speedo contract
We are the only store in Belgium with a full Speedo contract, which brings specific advantages. Negotiating it was one of the most interesting and most important parts.
The first three years
1.5 h
In the store, 10:00 to 18:00
1.5 h
Every Friday and Saturday, with about 1.5 hours of bus each way, alongside my studies and, at first, competitive swimming.
Weekends at events each year: about 28 of 52. On many of them I also worked on Sunday.
The store and the events
Featured in Gazet van Antwerpen, after the takeover. Photo: Hans Otten.
March to May 2026
Accounting & Reporting Intern
Deloitte, Leuven
From running a business to reviewing the books of others.
Day to day: smaller SMEs
Reviewing and checking the clients' bookkeeping and accounts
Preparing annual financial statements
Booking the day-to-day accounting entries
Alongside: a project with roughly 70 entities
Supporting the entity administration of a large Belgian healthcare group.
Through Zwemshop Geel / Speedo Brand Store Belgium
Speedo invited us to Paris for three days as their guests at the Olympic Games, spent with people from across the international organisation: from management in Los Angeles to the team in London developing racing suits.
