Jamal Edwards ... the Acton kid and his media empire

"They had just done adverts with Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga and wanted to do one which was more urban," he explains. "Five minutes before it aired, I was like 'Oh my God'. Something like 12.3 million people watched it. That was one of my proudest moments, like ever."

Although, if a venture with Richard Branson, whom he met a few months ago after being voted a Virgin Media Pioneer, becomes reality, that will be his most profitable achievement.

All this from a kid who grew upon on a South Acton estate in west London and gained just six GCSEs - including three D grades and one E. He went on to complete a national diploma in moving image media production at Ealing College, where he was threatened with expulsion more than once.

Jamal admits his childhood was tough, made all the harder by not knowing his father. He has developed a good relationship with his stepfather, however, who moved in with mum Brenda and younger sister Tanisha when he was six.

"One day someone from school got killed so we didn't have to go in. My teachers used to say, 'You are only going to work in Safeways', and it just made me want to prove them wrong."

He still lives in Acton with his family but on a different estate and he is quick to credit Brenda, who came fourth on the second series of X Factor in 2005, as one of his inspirations. Just as rapidly he dismisses claims his success is down to her contacts. "My mum didn't give me any links, she doesn't know Skepta [a UK grime artist who has featured on SB.TV] and that, I got those links myself."

His career began when he got a camera for Christmas at 15. "I was filming things like foxes in my garden - I thought I was Steve Irwin. I uploaded it to YouTube and got 1,000 views and was like rah I could do something here, so I went on my estate and filmed local rappers.

"I started sneaking into raves to get bigger acts and messaging record labels to get interview time with their artists, but back then it was hard as they were like 'You are an urban channel, we don't want our artist to be associated with that'. I wasn't earning money either, so I worked in Topman for four years until I was 18 or 19. But I was filming because it was my passion."

For the channel to take off he had to bring in a wider crowd, and Jamal's big break came when he scored his first non- grime interview with Kelly Rowland. "From there I got Trey Songs and Bruno Mars and used that when approaching other people saying 'I got these guys, why can't your act do it too?'"

The company has morphed from a one-man guerrilla operation into a 10-strong professional outfit funded by online adverts and charging people to shoot videos. It is based in Mornington Crescent, down the road from MTV, to whom Jamal says "better watch out".

"In every area we are in I want to be in the top 10, at least. So in clothing there is adidas, Puma, Nike and I want SB.TV in that list too. In broadcasting, MTV, ITV, BBC and SB.TV too. I want to challenge all the top brands."

Alongside plans to expand to New York, Jamal, whose indulgence is Thomas Sabo jewellery, has hopes for his record label and believes its first artist, east London MC Maxsta, will be as big as Mobo-winning Tinie Tempah. Yet what most excites him is inspiring young people, which he plans to do through school workshops. "I want to tell them you only live once and not to be afraid to get told no."

He wants to take subscription to SB.TV from 100,000 to one million.

A goal too far perhaps? "The word impossible is not in my dictionary," he says, so authoritatively it's easy to see why he is becoming as big a star in his own right as those on the other side of his camera.