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Jakarta Post

Teenager earns more than $14,000 selling snacks at school

Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, April 4, 2016 Published on Apr. 4, 2016 Published on 2016-04-04T12:22:29+07:00

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A British teenager has earned £10,000 (US$14,223) in one year by simply selling snacks to his school buddies.
A British teenager has earned £10,000 (US$14,223) in one year by simply selling snacks to his school buddies. (Shutterstock/-)

A British teenager has earned £10,000 (US$14,223) in one year by simply selling snacks to his school buddies.

Obviously on his way in becoming an entrepreneur, 16-year-old Jack Robinson from North Yorkshire, England, initially came up with the idea when a friend bought his packed lunch one day. He later began to sell snacks and drinks during school hours to his student friends in Rye Hills School in Redcar and, after a year, has accumulated so much money that he was able to buy himself an iMac and saved thousands to pay for university fees.

Robinson told Mirror.co.uk that he had actually started down his entrepreneurial path by selling chewing gum when he was 12 years old. 

"In Year 7 I was selling chewing gum but the school soon stopped that. Then in Year 10 a friend bought my lunch off me as I wasn’t hungry that day and then I’ve grown it from there," he said, adding that he currently earned up to £30 per day and he was inspired by working class self-made businessmen who’ve made successes of themselves, like Duncan Bannatyne and Lord Alan Sugar.

“I’d bulk buy on a weekend and take a bag of snacks in, selling chocolate and crisps for 50p [pence] and drinks for £1. I was cheaper than the local shops and more convenient as I was in school," Jack said.

His parents, neither of whom have business backgrounds, were understandably very proud of him. 

“He is motivated and focused. I’m just proud of him and know he will go out there and make his own opportunities," said Robinson's father, 50-year-old Peter, a shift operations manager for a timber company. (kes)

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