PIC

Two (2) young entrepreneurs share how they started their businesses

Henry Patterson
Age 10
Henry is the creator of Not Before Tea, a swchildren's products company. Henry designs all the new products and writes books featuring characters who work in the sweet shop.

"I've always been interested in business, from around the age of five. The main reason I got started was that I wanted a new Power Ranger and my mother told me I should sell my old toys to get money for new ones. She helped me list them on eBay. I loved doing this and got quite imaginative putting Ben 10 on a tractor and selling him as Farmer Ben 10!
The real basic business lesson came from having my very own pitch at a car boot sale. You can grow your stock and business with the money you make selling your first items (but you have to pay your bills first and that includes paying a percentage in tax). My mother has helped me and I have been to some workshops to learn about pricing too.
I started with £100 Christmas money and have built the business up organically which has taken a year. I wouldn't have understood how you build a business in this way if I had not been taught about how you buy more stock with the money from sales. I get a percentage from the business so I was quick to learn how to work that out."

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 Moziah Bridges, age 12
Moziah is the creator and designer of Mo's Bows, handcrafted bow ties.

"I learned to start and a run a great business from my awesome mum. My mentors always tell me to be sure the price is right on my product and not to spend a lot of money on silly things. Being aware how to manage money helps me figure out what I'm going to sell my ties for and how much I will spend on fabric and other things that I need to run my business. It teaches me to be prepared for challenges and how important maths is because I have to count money when I sell my product. "




The children and finance series is funded by Unicef.