Energy-saving app created by entrepreneur

A young entrepreneur, who reinvented the light switch aged 15, is set to take the next step in his quest to become a business tycoon.

Yasser Khattak created an app which will enable users to turn off switches and sockets from their smartphones, potentially saving households – and the UK economy – £1.7 billion in wasted energy costs.

He came up with the idea for Den while lounging in bed, not wanting to get up to switch off the light.

The 21- year- old said: “I thought about how I could change that using a mobile app and quickly wrote it down.”

And now his vision is set to become a reality, after he raised more than £1m through a crowdfunding campaign and secured distribution deals with retailers including Amazon, Argos, and Sainsbury’s.

It’s a long way from his troubled teen years at Maidstone Grammar School, which suspended him 16 times.

In 2015, Mr Khattak was one of the final five candidates shortlisted for the London Innovators Award, sponsored by IBM. This was after he raised £500,000 in just 32 hours on crowdfunding site Seedrs.

The start-up is now expected to hit £2 million of pre-orders, with products retailing between £8.99 for a socket, up to £59.99 for the Wi-fi hub.

Den, with its 20m range, communicates with the hub, which then tells the switches to turn on or off.

It will be able to recognise what is plugged into specific sockets.

Mum Ghazala Noreen, 49, of Franklin Drive, Weavering, said: “I am an extremely proud mother, and so grateful for how humble Yasser has remained throughout the process.”

Den is predicted to be worth £250 million by 2019, but the founder isn’t letting this go to his head.

“My dream has always been to make £100 million and give it all to charity,” he said.

“My outlook on life has completely changed since starting Den. Life really isn’t all about money.”

The millionaire added: “I used to waste a lot of money and spent £ 10,000 buying antique furniture and taking my dog on holidays.

“Now my biggest source of happiness is helping other people and the planet.

“That is what Den is all about, if we do good things for the earth then the earth will do good things for us.”