A man is looking ahead to his next challenge after selling his stake in a social media group which has received significant investment.

Ryan Williams, from Chadderton, has cashed out after spending six years at KOMI Group, one of the UK's leading social brands which creates and builds social media pages and channels.

For the 33-year-old dad, what started out as a hobby became his full-time job when social media pages he was creating started to gain major popularity.

Ryan was working in the IT department at Manchester Metropolitan University while creating parody social media pages such as Deluded Brendan and Slow Sports News.

However, in 2016, he took a gamble when he saw the growth of these pages and set up a company with Andrew Trotman and Matt Thomas, leaving his job to go full-time and lead the content team.

The company, which rebranded as KOMI Group in 2020, now runs pages with millions of followers and has more than 80 members of staff.

Ryan said: "It was something I was loving doing so much and my day job was actually getting in the way of fully committing to it.

"It got to the point where I wanted to give it a go otherwise it might be something I always wondered 'What if?'"

It was a massive gamble for Ryan, however it paid off as the pages and sites began to gain more followings.

Among KOMI Group's social media pages is It's Gone Viral, which has more than 10m followers on Facebook.

The Oldham Times: Ryan said he will enjoy some time off before taking on his next challengeRyan said he will enjoy some time off before taking on his next challenge (Image: Ryan Williams)

Now, the group has received significant investment from the investment company British Growth Fund (BGF), which led Ryan to decide it was time to move on.

He said: "Honestly, I got made an offer which for myself and my family's circumstances was too good to turn down."

Looking ahead, Ryan said he is hoping to help younger people coming through and looking to follow a similar path.

He added: "I'd love to inspire younger generations of entrepreneurs - I stumbled into business and would to be able to help others gear up and do it themselves.

"The next few weeks and months are all about networking with the right people and building relationships to build my profile."