The entrepreneurial spirit of a 13-year-old Craigavon girl has captured the attention of customers as far as Kildare… with her new ‘Summer” business raking in more than 200 orders so far!
Behind the rapidly expanding enterprise is Abbie Morgan, who took to creating “period pouches” to build up a little pocket money to see her through the school holidays.
Speaking to Armagh I, with her ‘Personal Assistant”, mum Caroline alongside, Abbie explained how it all started: “My mum made a pouch about a year ago and I just thought it was a really good idea for girls.”
Added Caroline: “She has been speaking about it for a while since and we had loads of stuff left over so I just thought she could sort through what she had and if she got a few orders from my friends and family then that would have been it.
“We never expected it to take off the way it has!”
After being inspired by her mum’s thoughtful gesture, Abbie decided to make pouches for her friends in January. They bought the supplies in bulk and when Abbie had finished her gifting, they realised they had enough left to make another 50.
So, with time to spare during the break from school, Caroline gave her the push to make the pouches and sell them for pocket money.
“When summer hit and she was out every day with her friends, she had the hand out every day looking for money,” said Caroline. “I said to her she could be making her own money and she said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it’.
“I set her up a Facebook page thinking she would only sell a couple through friends and family and I said we would deliver locally across Craigavon, Lurgan and Portadown, but the page was just inundated and my phone has not stopped this last two days!”
Each hand-built pouch contains three different sizes of sanitary towel, one pack of wet wipes, one pair of pants, one disposable bag, one hair clip, one Chupa Chup lip balm, sweets, a lovely affirmation and a pretty pouch… all for just £5!
And since Caroline started their Facebook page ‘The Period Pouch’ on July 21, Abbie has already sold all 50 pouches with another 200 orders on the books ready for fulfilment.
Caroline laughed: “My kitchen is like a workshop!”
But Abbie has been wholly enjoying the responsibility of building her orders and seeing the fruits of her labour… by way of a little extra money in her pocket!
Mature beyond her years, Abbie has even been openly chatting with customers at her door about her own period experience and how she felt the pouches would help!
Wanting to support a fledgling entrepreneur, the public have even reached out to Caroline offering to make donations to help Abbie purchase supplies.
When asked why she thinks Abbie has been so successful, Caroline said: “I think people are just impressed by her age and they want to help a child who is trying to do this herself.”
She describes Abbie as always having been a worker. When she was younger she would regularly have walked neighbourhood dogs for just £1 and she’s always coming up with ways to make a little bit extra.
As Personal Assistant, Caroline monitors their Facebook page, saying she learned her lesson when Abbie responded to a customer in Kildare saying her “mummy would drop off the order!”
She says Abbie is “absolutely buzzing” with the response.
And in a word of thanks to her customers, Abbie added: “I would just like to say a big thank-you to my 1,000 followers!”
