Welcome to the Business Playbox Spotlight, where we take a closer look at some members of our Playbox community.

In our latest Spotlight, we welcome two of our latest members to the Business Playbox community, the irrepressible Mariam Karolia (L) and Marie Moyles (R). Find out more below as they share a little about themselves and their hopes for the future.

Mariam

Mariam is a 25-year-old entrepreneur, brought up in an African country and comes from a family of business owners. She owned a business buying and selling products which maintained a steady income, but the business was struck by unfortunate circumstances, and Mariam is now looking too start again with a new venture.


Why get involved?
Mariam joined the business playbox to learn new techniques and hopes to gain knowledge on how to use online platforms to her advantage. She's particularly looking forward to acquiring new knowledge and insight on business techniques she might not have known about before. 

Journey so far
So far, she's explored and observed different possibilities that could broaden her business outlook, whilst thinking about the many options this Business Playbox community could offer her and looks forward to developing her connections and ideas with others. She's enjoying the approaches on the workshops so far, and hopes to get a new enterprise up and running, this time with more knowledge and improved understanding. 

The Future
Mariam hopes to leave the program with a more positive outlook, greater self-confidence, and a new understanding of developing a business. She also hopes to explore how to secure finances for her business idea from the workshops and the collective experience from the community.
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For those looking to join the She Inspired Business Playbox, Mariam thinks they should go ahead and join as they would learn and gain a lot of knowledge which would make it easier when thinking to even start a business and give them the strength to take the risk. She says "if they do want a business, they have to be willing to take that risk." Your journey certainly has to start somewhere.

Marie

Marie worked for the NHS for over 30 years as a problem solver and therapist, helping patients learn how to make functional use of their upper limbs and regain strength. She's an eco-conscious individual who tries her best to be as green and sustainable as possible in her day-to-day life. 

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Why get involved?
Marie joined the Business Playbox because, when researching potential career paths, she decided to explore learning fundamental knowledge needed to start a business. Whilst recognising it would be difficult to pursue her passion in art and make only money from that, she's now looking at ways to combine her art with tangible ways of earning a living.

She also hopes to develop a network, and find unique selling points specific to the products she might develop, and maybe learn how to acquire a website to help her entrepreneurship endeavours. 

Journey so far
Whilst it's early days as a member of the Business Playbox, Marie has learned how to organise her thinking and what it means to turn it into an actual business, and has realised the possibilities of turning her dreams into reality. She now knows that working for herself is a possibility and her passions may very well come to fruition.

She thinks the approach being used so far is relaxed and welcoming, and differs from the typical business workshops. She enjoy the 'down to earth' manner the program is delivered in and hopes to take what she learns to create her dream job.

The Future
​Marie believes that the Business Playbox is a valuable asset, "is a great idea and very much needed in the society" and wants to tell that to anyone looking to join the community. She hopes it continues to grow and run for as long as possible so as to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas and give support to budding women entrepreneurs in the city. Marie's excited to be a part of this journey and hopes for many more women to join and get involved!