In this story, Lucy explains how her Young Enterprise experience gave her a first taste of business and sparked an entrepreneurial passion which still drives her today. She values the critical skills she learned on Company Programme, which made her more employable.
Lucy’s business journey began at the age of 16 when she participated in Company Programme, taking on the CEO role to sell decorative pencil cases.
“I probably wouldn’t have believed you if you told 16-year-old me that I’d be running a multi-million-pound company. The Young Enterprise journey may seem different to the real business world, but it has everything to do with it.
Lucy Cohen is the co-founder of subscription-based accountancy firm Mazuma. Lucy started the business in 2006 with her best friend Sophie Hughes.
Best friends since the age of 11, the pair have created a business with a £3million ARR and operates across the UK. But the business journey began when aged 16, Lucy took part in the Young Enterprise Company Programme.
As CEO, Lucy led a company that made and sold furry pencil cases. From manufacture to production to sales, Lucy learnt the fundamentals of how to run a business. “It was the first time I’d written a business plan. And it gave me the skills to manage other people as well as communication and financial management skills as well.”
Lucy comes from a family of ‘self-employed and small business people’ but says Young Enterprise set her on the path to business success. “Business has always been around me, but Young Enterprise was my first real taste of running a business. You might not know it at the time, but it definitely set me off on a path.”
Lucy’s Young Enterprise company made a profit – but the journey didn’t end there. The skills Lucy learnt at Young Enterprise still help her at work today. “The biggest thing I learnt was how to take an idea from concept to delivery. And in business, you’re constantly having to innovate, come up with new ideas and take them to fruition. So that’s probably one of the most transferable skills I learnt.”
Lucy believes that the skills students learn at Young Enterprise help to make them more employable. “It helps you understand a little bit of the mechanism about why things in business are done a certain way. That’s really valuable to me as a business owner – so you definitely get value from it. The skills and experience you gain will make a young person more employable”
Looking ahead, Lucy is now helping other people develop their skills in her own business – a path she hopes to tread with Young Enterprise as a business mentor. “One of my favourite things is seeing people develop. For me, it is really exciting to see somebody else grab the bull by the horns and take an idea for themselves. So that’s what gets me really excited. I love that.”
In the meantime, she encourages other young people to explore the opportunities Young Enterprise offers, saying, “Just go ahead, do it. It’s the sort of thing where even if you think it’s not for you and you don’t want to go into business, you’re going to learn something about yourself and enhance your future career prospects.”
“I probably wouldn’t have believed you if you told 16-year-old me that I’d be running a multi-million-pound company. The Young Enterprise journey may seem different to the real business world, but it has everything to do with it.
The problems you face in business are perpetual – it’s cash flow, people, resources, and growth – the same things you’re going to learn at Young Enterprise.
So that first taste of business on Company Programme and the thrill that went with it has 100% shaped where I am today as a business leader.”