A SCHOOLGIRL has become one of the UK’s youngest entrepreneurs after setting up her own sweet business aged just seven.
Luna Lily grew up watching her mum Francesca Farrow, 32, run a business and decided one day to set up her own.
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The primary school student pitched her sweet business idea to her mum who eventually agreed to invest £150.
Luna also invested £50 she had saved up from pocket money and bought sweets, bags and stickers.
From there, Luna’s Magical Sweets was born – and after Francesca, a digital marketing agency owner, set up a website and social media, orders started trickling in.
Luna offers a range of options including different colour and flavour themed bags and ‘letter box’ packets to send in the post.
Just two months in, having fulfilled around 270 sales so far, the little entrepreneur has already made back both her and Francesca’s investments and is in profit.
Francesca, from Caerphilly, Wales, said: “The entrepreneurial spirit has always been there – growing up, her favourite game was always playing shopkeeper.
“She has always seen me doing my work, at meetings or designing things, and she has always wanted to help too.
“When she first started mentioning it I thought she would forget – but she didn’t!
“I built the website for her and did the adult bits, but she’s pretty much done the whole thing herself since then.
“She comes home from school and sits in the study working on her business instead of playing on the Xbox – it’s so nice to see.
“I’ve been teaching her about re-investing her profits and she browses the wholesaler’s website by herself.
“Sometimes she is up working in the office before me in the mornings!
“I feel very proud of her – she is committed to something and she hasn’t given up.”
The youngster grew up seeing her entrepreneur mum leading a successful career.
KID’S MEAL
SCHOOL dinners are nowhere to be seen at Harlie’s Diner, a new retro American-style diner in Leeds, which was opened by Harlie Haycox at just 11 years old.
The ambitious schoolgirl designed every part of the restaurant, from the décor to the menu, inspired by her entrepreneur dad Matt Haycox who started his first business at 15.
Harlie was influenced by her time spent living in Las Vegas where, at the age of nine, she created her own holiday-themed milkshakes for the family business Sticks and Shakes.
She said: “When we were in Las Vegas, we would import English chocolate bars because they were much harder to find and everyone loved them.
“My favourite flavour of milkshake is Dime bar, but I also really like Oreo-flavoured desserts.”
Harlie’s Diner has a hot pink colour scheme, a menu which features American classics like hot wings, waffles and shakes, and even has fuchsia chopper bikes to make deliveries to the people of Leeds.
Harlie enlisted help from her school friends to sample the menu and select the best flavours for the US-inspired meals and shakes.
But Francesca had no idea she’d want to follow in her footsteps until a project at school a year ago which involved Luna selling some bath bombs.
From then on, Luna was dead-set on launching her own business selling personalised sweet bags.
Finally, after months of begging, in April Francesca finally caved in.
She said: “After so much pestering, I took her to the warehouse and she picked out some bags of sweets.
“I taught her to design her own packaging, logos and stickers on Canva, and we ordered it all.”
Sometimes she is up working in the office before me in the mornings!
Francesca Farrow
After setting up an online presence with Francesca’s help, Luna got her first order on April 28 – 100 identical sweetie bags for a local wedding to give out as favours.
Luna stayed up all night packing them and earned her first £100 from a very happy bride and groom.
That was followed by another order of 100 bags by a local estate agent, and then 20 for a local football club.
She has now made back the £200 from her initial investment, and has made £70 profit so far, with plenty of stock left to sell.
Francesca said: “I’ve had to teach her about profits and re-investing.
“It feels imaginary like playing shops with her, but she’s actually doing it.
RISKY BUSINESS
HAVE you got big ideas for a small business?
Just 37 per cent of would-be entrepreneurs have the ambition to start their own firm.
We’ve teamed up with Dragons’ Den’s Theo Paphitis to get you started.
Aurelija Meakin’s company balloonista.com was a Small Business Sunday winner in 2019, delighting the former telecoms worker.
Aurelija, from Orpington, Kent, said: “Running your own business can be tough.
“You need to be persistent and resourceful, and not to be too hard on yourself.
“If you have a dream, you have to go for it.”
Here are Theo’s tips for budding entrepreneurs.
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
- It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
- See theopaphitissbs.com
“Sometimes I let her take her laptop up to bed but she doesn’t just sit on YouTube – she’s working on designs or browsing the wholesaler’s website.”
The mini entrepreneur has plenty of plans for the future of the business including getting stalls at upcoming village fairs and fetes.
Francesca added: “I’m pretty impressed and surprised she has stuck with this.
“If she changes her mind later, it’s fine – but it’s great to see her so passionate about something.
“I’ve not quite got to the bottom of why – is it money? Being the boss? I don’t know.
“But something is driving her to keep going.”
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