Putney High School: How to be an Entrepreneur

Amelie, Year 7, has already been making waves in business, by selling an ocean-themed Pick a Pearl experience at children’s fairs around the UK.

Using a home-made papier-mâché rock-pool, together with environmentally friendly bracelets and floating key chains, she used her proceeds to support a charity that protects marine life.

‘I saw a similar idea in the Isle of Wight where they were using natural pearls’, she says.  Amelie has already met former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, a businesswoman and entrepreneur. They visited one of the fairs where Amelie was exhibiting and purchased from her stand, something of which she says she felt ‘very proud.’

She says confidence is key – ‘it doesn’t matter what you’re selling. As long as you’re proud of it and selling it well.’

Amelie is looking forward to showcasing her Pick A Pearl business again at the Young Business Showcase, the first in London (Hammersmith & Fulham) on Saturday 22 November.

Amelie is also a member of The Entrepreneurship Club at Putney, run by Mrs Bradley. She says she has learnt a lot, including ideas on how to speak to the customer.

And in the future? She’d like to start a brand, maybe.  And if she were to come back to Putney to give a careers talk ten years from now, what would she say?

‘Always keep your options open,’ she says. ‘And do what you love.’ And what might she say to someone that felt nervous?

‘I don’t know,’ she says. An answer that shows the courage of a true entrepreneur.