With that sort of limited capital, the $25,000 price tag for equipment to pump wax into containers could have stymied their plans straight away, but an engineering friend drew up a sketch showing how a recycled washing machine could function as a pump to pour the hot wax.

“Shane took the sketch, went and bought the equipment and put it together himself,” Gadsdon says. The $200 machine’s still used for transferring liquid in their Mangere factory, although it’s been replaced by commercial-grade equipment for pumping wax.

Those mates are still around, too, eight years on, and the fact that they sacrificed Friday and Saturday nights in the early days gives them a sense of ownership in the company’s success. “To this day our friends go into stores and tidy up our products,” Gadsdon says.

The pair now trade under the name Mix and have two brands: Dominate hair styling products and the newly added Primal Earth organic shaving gel. Exporting was always the company’s aim. Half of the Dominate-branded products sell offshore in more than 2,000 shops in Australia and 600 in the UK, and Primal Earth will soon follow.

“We see a big opportunity for the Primal Earth brand in the US and UK,” Gadsdon says. “Natural New Zealand products are sought after there.”

His grocery background – he spent seven years as a Progressive category manager – helped get the products into local supermarkets, but he claims Young’s expertise with ingredients and new product development has been a major factor in their success.

“That’s our advantage over the multinationals. Our Waxx and Rok Waxx are the number one- and number two-selling products in the country. We can launch new products quickly, and test and refine them in the local market before we export them.”

In September, he won Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Ernst & Young’s annual Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Judging panel chair David Johnson says they were impressed at how measured, structured and well organised Gadsdon was in his thought processes. “He’s not a young, dancing guy trying to impress us with his youth and enthusiasm.

“We also loved the fact that they started the thing from cooking it up in a pot in the kitchen. It’s not been handed to them on a plate; they really thought, ‘There’s a market opportunity,’ and he then added his expertise.”