A young Nottingham entrepreneur who turned over more than £1m in his first year of business while still a student has picked up a prestigious regional award.

Kawsar Miah was still a student at Nottingham Trent University when he set up Digicom Solutions in his gap year.

Now he has collected the prestigious title of Midlands Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2009 Midlands Business Awards.

Kawsar set up the wholesale electronics firm while taking part in the Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in Education (SPEED) programme based at the university's Hive – its enterprise development unit.

Digicom has since gone from strength to strength, now employing eight people and supplying a range of electronics to firms including game consoles, memory devices, laptops and mobile phones.

Kawsar, who was also nominated in the Entrepreneur of the Year and Business Person of the Year categories, was presented with his award by Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham.

Kawsar said: "I am very honoured to have won this award as it gives recognition for all the hard work that has gone into Digicom Solutions. I also want to thank all those who have supported me in setting up and running the business."

Kawsar is just 23 and he hopes Digicom will turn over £2m this year.

He said: "I started Digicom in my gap year when I was 20. I got the idea when I was visiting Bangladesh with my father. I saw the difference in prices people were paying for electronic goods, much more than in the UK.

"Initially I exported to Bangladesh but the army took over from the civilian government so business became difficult. Overnight, the business vanished.

"I had to find a niche market in the UK. I undertook a lot of research identifying independent high street and online retailers.

"Today, we reckon to supply those customers within three days of them placing an order.

"We managed to get as close as possible to manufacturers or their distributors and purchase in large volumes so we get better prices to pass on to our customers. We have concentrated on better prices and better service for our customers."

Chris Hall, business manager of The Hive, where Kawsar and his team are still based, said: "We're all delighted for Kawsar, he has always been totally dedicated to developing Digicom Solutions, even running the company during his final year of university, and he should be very proud of what he has achieved."