DAVID Brown has had a love of cars from the age of seven, growing up with his father who liked the faster variety of automobiles.

So it’s no wonder the IT professional, who also spent the last 11 years competing in drag-racing events, would establish a business selling high-performance parts.

“The business sells parts for the tuner market… any vehicle that can be modified to look better or perform better,” said Brown, the owner of Speed Factor.

The company, which is located in Montego Bay also does special online orders and helps individuals with the logistics of importing parts, as well as sell to a typical walk-in customer that may want to buy a turbo kit.

After working as a system engineer at a leading IT company and spending years in the sector, the 28-year-old started the business last year April with $100,000 and a small shop.

Now the company offers diagnostic services.

“You can come in and hook your car up to a machine to determine what is wrong with the vehicle or what part it may need,” said Brown.

But his vision for the company sees it evolving into a one-stop garage, complete with a dyno, car wash, lift, as well as on-staff electrical and mechanical technicians, in another three to five years.

In the meantime, the fluctuation in the dollar and the bad economic climate has made doing business very difficult.

He also experiences the usual challenges faced by start-ups, such as sourcing capital financing and the cost of marketing.

“If you don’t have collateral you most likely won’t get a loan,” said Brown. “(But) with the advent of social media, young business can bypass that marketing problem.”

Even then his biggest challenge is “an internal struggle”.

“Negativity, naysayers, and the natural human inclination to be afraid of failure: if you can conquer those things, you can achieve anything,” he said.