‘Going to be better’: Young barber reveals his vision to make Cairns a thriving city

From fleeing a war-torn country to operating a barber shop out of a horse float, a young entrepreneur has revealed why he wants to help make Cairns a thriving city.

Young barber Jerome Idi has created Cairns' first portable barber shop, Jerome Hair Cut Style, cutting hair in the back of an old horse float. Picture: Brendan Radke

For young Cairns barber Jerome Idi, nothing feels better than a pair of clippers in his hands.

The 20-year-old, whose family fled the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, said he began his trade as a Trinity Bay high school student, operating from his parents house.

“I’ve run the business for five years … I started the idea for it when I was at school at Trinity Bay and I started with my friends at school cutting their hair,” Mr Idi said.

Mr Idi, who spent his childhood in Uganda, said he followed his older brother Patrick into the trade, months before they came to Australia.

Young barber Jerome Idi first started cutting hair as a teenager for his fellow high school students, before launching Jerome Hair Cut Style where he cuts hair in the back of an old horse float. Picture: Brendan Radke

“My brother started barbering back in Africa, then I jumped to the same situation … so I start doing dreadlocks at the salon, then I jumped to do barbering for four months and then we came here to Australia,” he said.

Mr Idi described himself as self-taught, but said he done hairdressing courses, including Fresh Start Academy vocational training, before branching out on his own.

“I did three weeks and my mind just pushed me to continue my business, even if I had only one or two customers, but I searched for an online college which I’m still doing, and I have four months until I graduate,” he said.

Jerome Idi followed his older brother Patrick into the barber trade as a teenager, launching his own hairstyling business Jerome Hair Cut Style out of a refurbished horse float. Picture: Brendan Radke

Jerome Idi cuts the hair of David Ngiriyonda outside his home on Wilkinson Street, Manunda. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Idi, who runs his business out of a refurbished horse float, said the unusual set up was his dad’s idea.

“He’s a camping guy, he likes to go camping a lot … my dad always thinks a lot, he spends eight or nine hours just doing stuff in the trailer and finally he finished the design,” he said.

While his family relocated to Brisbane, and his brother took up a trade as a plumber, Mr Idi said he wanted to stay in Cairns in the long-term and had many plans to help make it a “big city”, including setting up his own salon and training school.

“If I have seven students opening their own business, they can open a barber shop, maybe a restaurant, maybe different ideas, but that is going to help everyone have a job, (Cairns) is going to be bigger and everyone’s life is going to be better,” he said.

“Instead of sitting down and waiting for someone to give you job, everybody has a dream so you have to push it, and the dream takes longer … it’s not going to take two days or one year.

“It’s going to take more than 10 years so I have to head down and keep (going).”

Originally published as ‘Going to be better’: Young barber reveals his vision to make Cairns a thriving city