Be the first to know. Get our weekly newsletter.

newsletter_popup Join 25,000 of your peers. Get our stories delivered to your e-mail inbox every week.
Edit Interests

Articles Selected for You

No unread stories
 
ViralBlog Logo
Close this box

Sign-up to get the content you like


Our readers can personalize ViralBlog in Zite alike ways, and schedule e-mail alerts to get the most relevant answers to their specific questions.

Choose your sign-up method:

Could not connect to Twitter. Refresh the page or try again later.

 

By signing-up you agree upon our terms and conditions

 
28/02/2013 by
4167 views

Henry: 9 Year-Old Entrepreneur Launched 3rd Start-up

This is an incredible story about Britain’s youngest entrepreneur. Meet Henry, the 9 year-old that has just launched his third start-up!

Meet Henry: 9 Year-Old Entrepreneur Launched 3rd Start-up

Henry Patterson launched his first start-up at the age of 7, selling bags of manure for £1.

Next Henry set up his own eBay store in which he sold items he had bought from charity shops. Soon he made £150.

Recently Henry has set up his 3rd start-up: he’s selling sweets under the name of Not Before Tea.

The range of sweets is now sold at website Sherbetpip, but is created and designed by nine year old Henry Patterson.

Henry designed the product range, came up with idea for the logo and decided on the name for the business based on his mother’s response whenever he asks her for sweets.

“No one knows the type of sweets that children like better than a child,” says Henry.

“Sweets must be as fun as toys and do stuff,” he adds. As well as ensuring that each jar was an adventure in its own right, Henry set out to solve the biggest problem with confectionery – how to soften the blow when the sweets are all gone.

Meet Henry: 9 Year-Old Entrepreneur Launched 3rd Start-up

Most of the Not Before Tea products come with glass pens to decorate the jars.

Henry also includes reward stickers for grown-ups to give children to make sure they clean their teeth. “I hate cleaning my teeth after I have eaten sweets but love getting stickers at the dentist. That’s how I got the idea,” he says.

Henry has plans for Not Before Tea to go solo before his tenth birthday.

He has already had over 100 orders for his sweets and smashed his £10 profit target for the first month in the first week.

Henry proudly hands out business cards stating creative director to fellow pupils at Swanbourne House School, Buckinghamshire.

Henry, whose father Julian, 52, works in marketing, said: ‘I started coming up with business ideas when I was five. I started selling manure and I loved it – even if it was a bit smelly.

Henry’s mother, a PR manager, set up her Sherbetpip.co.uk site as part of a programme with Bedfordshire County Council that shows young people how easy it can be to start a small business.

Meet Henry: 9 Year-Old Entrepreneur Launched 3rd Start-up

My Opinion?
Looking at his parents’ profession, Henry has probably overheard several marketing related conversations.

Or branding, storytelling, marketing and PR are simple deep in his DNA.

Not only do I love his way of gathering consumer insights and his business card saying creative director.

I think the storytelling around his sweets is not only sweeter than sweet.

Henry seems to be able to discover the sweet spot of his targets, to pull them gently through his funnel. And that for a 9 year-old boy.

I wish Henry a great future and many successful start-ups.

To our readers I would like to say: Please make sure to order. Let’s get Henry his next 100 orders!

What About You?
How do you like Henry’s skills? Do you know other great young entrepreneurs? I would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

Follow & Share
Want more social insights? Browse our category Social Media, follow Igor Beuker on Twitter, grab our RSS Feed, join our Facebook movement or subscribe to our weekly e-mail newsletter.

About the Author
Igor Beuker was CMO at 3 listed companies, chairmain at the IAB, jury member at Webby, AMMA and Esprix awards, founder of 2 agencies (both sold to WPP) and global chief social officer at Mindshare. Now he is ‘freejack’ consultant and a sought after keynote speaker.

Source: Daily Mail, Sherbetpip, photos by SWNS.