Enterprise UK Blog

Make Your Mark ambassador Dave Garbera has written a book about his successful business started as a 14-year-old student at Kelvin Hall Senior High School in Hull. He plans to fund studies with sales from the books.

Dave (20) caught the business bug in Year 10 when he took part in the Young Enterprise Company Programme where students gain practical experience of business through setting up and running their own company. Dave set up KH Smilers with fellow students Benn Jessney and Mike Jones, growing and selling plants to corporate clients. His father Andrew Garbera is also on the payroll.

Dave plans to operate the business during his medical studies at Liverpool University to help cover his fees. “My book shows that with motivation and determination anything is possible. I believe that the business world and academia should not be mutually exclusive, it should be encouraged so that more young people can, with support, start up a business and yet study at the same time. I am living proof of the benefits.”

The first in a trilogy, Smilers Part One: From the Ashes, tells the story of Dave’s rapidly growing company which he plans to expand by increasing business sales which already sees over 50,000 plants sold each year. The book aims to positively encourage young people to combine their academic studies with practical business experience.

Dave says: “My entrepreneurial skills in organising my time, self-confidence, communications skills and the use of technology have helped me enormously with my medical studies. The skills I have acquired studying to become a doctor – attention to detail, listening carefully and extensive research – have been of benefit to me in running my successful business.”

His enterprising streak has seen him beat off stiff competition from business students at Liverpool University to receive a £100 cheque for the Most Enterprising Student Award by Liverpool University’s Guild of Students.

Dave plans to donate a percentage of the profits from his book sales to the Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership – winners in the regional round of the Enterprising Britain competition 2009 run by Make Your Mark. Dave says: “I received a grant from the Youth Enterprise Bank which helped me set up in business. I want to give money back so other young people from Hull can get financial support for their new business ventures.”

Jane Walton, Head of Make Your Mark in Yorkshire and the Humber says Dave is a great asset to the campaign: “Dave’s a fantastic role model for young people in Hull to follow. He’s shown how teaching young people to be more enterprising can equip them with skills that will last them throughout their career and can also give them the idea to set up their own business.”

Dave plans to put his enthusiasm for enterprise to good use by inspiring other young people to consider starting up a business of their own: “I am looking forward to working with young people across the UK as a Make Your Mark ambassador. It will also give me the chance to talk to other successful young entrepreneurs, as well as being at the heart of the UK’s enterprise campaign.”

You can buy the book from Dave’s website athttp://www.garberaenterprise.co.uk.  It is also available in the Hull branches of Brown’s Books and Waterstone’s.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Global Entrepreneurship Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.