Young Invercargill entrepreneur starts business from bedroom
Thursday, 13 January 2022
A 12-year-old Invercargill entrepreneur hopes to make her first million by the age of 20.
James Hargest College student Ella McEwan-Franks, who is in her second year of running her own sewing business, spends about seven to eight hours a day creating masks, scrunchies, heat-packs and dog bandannas, which she sells online, at markets, and most recently Invercargill eco-store Somewhat Green.
Her bedroom has been transformed into a sewing studio and her family’s garage has effectively turned into storage for her products.
It's an organised chaos, with contrasting fabrics, scissors, elastics, yarn and various prototypes arranged neatly on every available surface.
“My bedroom is essentially my factory,” she said, whilst carefully cutting the edges of a Simpsons inspired mask.
McEwan-Franks started her business “just for fun” during the Covid-19 lockdown of March 2020, having never sewn before.
“I didn't really know if it would go anywhere, but my neighbour actually told us ‘you can sell these wheat bags’ … so I started making flyers up and selling them around the neighbourhood, and it grew from there,” she said.
She set up a stall at the Southern Farmers market, naming her business Southern Sewing and earning a handsome enough profit to re-invest $1000 into a state-of-the-art sewing machine.
However, it was the Delta outbreak in August 2021 that pushed her business forward, as mandatory mask-wearing inspired her to branch-out into custom masks.
In September, she introduced the masks to her regular market stock – which by that stage had grown to stalls at several community markets around Southland.
They were so successful that she decided to launch her products in an online store in December, and soon after got stocked in Invercargill eco-store Somewhat Green, on Tay St.
“Somebody was telling me at the market about this shop selling eco-friendly products and how it would be perfect for me … So I was like ‘oh my gosh I need to e-mail this person’ … Tracey [O’Neill, Somewhat Green owner] has been so supportive,” she said.
Her stock “basically sold out” within the first week, and she had to come back with a second round in Mid-December, she said.
With a career goal of becoming a fashion designer, McEwan-Franks is smart about spending her hard-earned profits, which she estimated to be about $5000 so far.
She's saving up to buy a new phone to provide higher quality pictures for her social media and business sites, which she co-ordinates on her own.
Her mum, Julie McEwan, said neither her nor her father were marketing orientated or had experience sewing, everything Ella had learnt was self-taught.
“She’s just so driven … we’re so proud of her … even when we get up at the crack of dawn for a Sunday market,” she said.