The Search for a “Fresh Prince” Begins

I’ve blogged before about how I started KashFlow with the help of the Prince’s Trust. I’m eternally grateful for the help I got from them and  I’ve since been involved in  number of fund-raising events for them and been lucky enough to meet some pretty high-calibre, ultra-successful people.

One of the big turning points for me was meeting Lord Young, who took a big leap of faith and  invested in KashFlow a few years ago. He’s now our Chairman.

Recently I spoke to Mike Coombs, the careers advisor at my old school – Brampton Manor in Newham, East London – and he thought it’d be good for me to come in and talk to the students about the option of starting a business. Certainly when I was there I didn’t think it was possible for someone from my background to go on to have a moderately successful business.

So I agreed to go in and do a little talk.  It was actually quite good fun. I was amazed at how few of them knew anyone that had started a business.

See the cheesy video below shot by one of the journalists that was present. I’ve nicked one of his phrases for the title of this post.

Anyway, on to the point of this post. I’ve decided to take on an intern from an area similar to where I grew up to come and work at KashFlow for a while to show what it’s like running a business.

Not filing, making coffee and emptying bins like so many people seem to end up doing on work experience – but to get a feel for what it’s really like running a business. And also to see the huge opportunities the internet presents to those who want to start a business but have relatively little capital to do so.

Hopefully it’ll encourage them to start their own business when they leave school – or at the very least see it as a viable option.

Watch this space for updates!