Unique, one of our UltraKids secures funding for new inititiative!

Unique Barnett, one of our UltraKids was featured by She Inspired Her and has received funding for a Newham Pet Awareness Day at Britannia Village Festival. Find out more below:

Today at She Inspired Her we put the spotlight on an intelligent, highly creative and exceptionally talented young school girl called Unique Barnett who is a 14 year old Entrepreneur and aspiring veterinarian. Unique Barnett already has her very own start-up company called ‘AYP Uniquely’ (Accessorise Your Pets Uniquely), selling her hand-made matching pet accessories, gifts and hampers for both pets and their owners and organising pet fun days!

Currently attending the Oasis Academy (OAS) situated in Silver Town in Newham East London, Unique is a high achiever at school with appointed roles including school leader, school elite and school ambassador. Unique is currently studying for her GCSE’s and is a sports journalist at OAS. This summer holiday Unique has been working as a youth work assistant at her local kids summer club as well as attending a mentoring project set up by KPMG, a professional service company and one of the Big Four auditors along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Unique had her very first live sales experience selling AYP Uniquely products at the Ultrakids Winter Fayre in December 2016 via the UltraAcademy for young entrepreneurs. This is a school run by Leader in Entrepreneur Education and Founder of UltraEducation, Julian Hall. Unique attended The UltraAcademy from May to December 2016 which taught her skills in setting up and running her own business alongside giving her great hand’s on sales experience at the December Fayre. She is also a part of the Plaistow Youth Market Collective in E13 where she also runs a stall once a month selling her hand-made AYP Uniquely products.
The current owner of a Rabbit called ‘Keaton’ and new 2 month old Jack Russell puppy named ‘Olly’, Unique is also the previous own of two guinea pigs, two mini lop rabbits and an array of gold fish and guppies! Unique aspires to be a vet in the future alongside running AYP Uniquely and she selects all the materials for all of her AYP Uniquely products and hand-makes the pet accessories which include cushions and identical matching bandannas for dogs and their owner, via her sewing machine at home, doing all of the additional aplique, stuffing, hand-sewing and lining herself.
As if this were not all enough Unique Barnett also bakes and sells healthy veggie pets treats and is a dab hand at knitting! This young lady started knitting at the tender age of just 10 after attending a “Bring and Fix It” event held by an organisation called ‘Nusho’   which she says she absolutely loved! This led to Unique joining a local “Knit and Natter” group where she learned to perfect her knitting skills, of course being the youngest member of the group with most of the members being 60+! All at just 14 years of age!
Unique Barnett received a Young Leaders Grant via the Peabody Trust, a housing association providing housing within the area and offering grants to young people to help develop their leadership skills through working with other young people on activities and events. With the use of this grant Unique held her first AYP Uniquely Pet Awareness Day within the  Britannia Village Young People’s Festival on Saturday 5th August 2017 where activities included owner and dog walks and pet activities, children’s activities, pet accessories, pet awareness and information, pet surveys and more! This took place withing a wider event which had additional activities including  bouncy castles, jumbo games, face painting, music and more!

She Inspired Her asked Unique Barnett:

If you could give one piece of advice to other entrepreneurs, young and old, taking the same journey as you and starting their own brand – what would it be”? 
Unique responded:

“My advise for someone currently thinking about starting their own brand is to make sure it is affordable; know your target audience; have a purpose; be original and make sure your product isn’t just a trend going by”! 

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