MOST six year olds entering primary three are getting to grips with maths, but Berliana McKenzie is preparing to launch her first business.
The Inverness-based schoolgirl has been awarded a £1,000 grant by The Hunter Foundation, and she will use the money to sell a secret sambal sauce developed by her family.
Berliana, who is one of the Scotland’s youngest entrepreneurs, said: “I want to make my old family recipe for sambal famous throughout the world and I know from good advice from my parents that it is best to start my business small and grow with success.
“In the end I want to see my enterprise grow to the point that my sambal can be ordered online and bought off the shelf in shops and major supermarkets throughout the country."
Launched in May as part of the Year of Young People 2018, the foundation’s "100 Disrupters" competition was set up to award grants of £1,000 to individuals or groups.
Sir Tom Hunter, who created the foundation, was impressed by the calibre of entrants and he awarded grants to young people to support their ambition.
Projects that will benefit include S1 pupils in Aberdeen organising life skills workshops to promote confidence and teamwork.
An 11-year-old from Moray also asked for a grant to help arrange day trips for families in financial hardship.
However, Berliana was the youngest winner. She added father is building for me this year premises in which I can start my little business empire. I intend to start with some good quality kitchenware such as a mixer machine, 100 glass jars with lids, labels and all the kitchen hardware needed to perform my operation.
“I see my market as home-based initially selling jars of sambal to all my neighbours and gradually moving into adjacent streets. If Sir Tom Hunter can do it with training shoes from the back of a van, I, Berliana McKenzie, can do it from a small wooden trolley shop.
“I see this '100 Disrupters' as a great opportunity to launch my wee business – I look forward to the challenge.”
Proud dad Richard said: “Her enthusiasm is boundless. She is terribly excited.”
Her father said the caption for the sauce is “Indo Scot”, which reflects the fact that he is Scottish while her mum is from Indonesia.
“The intention is to start small scale at things likes school events and gradually make it big,” he added.
Sir Tom Hunter said: “We were very impressed by the many brilliant initiatives entered by young people in Scotland, and we are delighted to have awarded more than 100 grants which will help them to embrace their ideas.
“As our next generation of leaders, the ambitions of young people of Scotland need to be welcomed, and it was so positive to read all of the fantastic ideas that we were sent. We were encouraged to read that many of the ideas were to help and support others in need, and we are delighted to have provided them with grants to realise their ambitions.”
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