Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thank You
- Today's World
- Glossary
- The Mayoress
- The Pioneer
- Dadi Ma the Motivator
- From Sylhet to Ilkley
- Music ‘n’ Motherhood
- Identity
- No Mercy!
- Journey to the House of Allah
- I have a Dream!
- From Roots to Routes
- Jihad
- The Preacher’s Voice
- Salaam Namaste
- The Visionary
- Turning Pennies into Pounds
- Busing in the Immigrants
- White Abbey Road
- The Spiritual Tourist
- Burning Ambitions
- Rags to Riches
- Final Thoughts
Turning Pennies into Pounds
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 July 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thank You
- Today's World
- Glossary
- The Mayoress
- The Pioneer
- Dadi Ma the Motivator
- From Sylhet to Ilkley
- Music ‘n’ Motherhood
- Identity
- No Mercy!
- Journey to the House of Allah
- I have a Dream!
- From Roots to Routes
- Jihad
- The Preacher’s Voice
- Salaam Namaste
- The Visionary
- Turning Pennies into Pounds
- Busing in the Immigrants
- White Abbey Road
- The Spiritual Tourist
- Burning Ambitions
- Rags to Riches
- Final Thoughts
Summary
A friend is one to whom one can pour out all the contents of ones heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentleness of hands will take and sift it, keeping what is worth keeping, and, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away. (Arabic proverb)
In my younger days – I’m 36 now – my parents had a shop and I used to help out. You know those jars of sweets that they used to sell in quarters in them days? Well, I took two bags, two quarters to school one day. They cost me maybe 20p and I had these big toffee sweets you see and I sold them for 10p each so I must have made about 60p on one of those bags of sweets. That's where I got interested in making money. I must only have been about 12 then. It was good having some money and giving some to your brothers and sisters and going, “Here buy yourselves something.” And I remember my sister did Avon and she used to have sample perfumes and those little lipsticks. I used to take them to school and my English friends go, “Can we buy some?” My sister used to get them for about 10p and there were six in a pack, and I sold each one for 5p. So it just seemed good having money and making money like that. It was from these very humble beginnings that I became interested in business, I learnt very quickly about what people liked and didn't like. My brother had a clothes shop and he used to go to Manchester, and one day I asked, “Can I go along with you?” I bought some little dress rings. You get a pack of them for about £3 and there were 12 in them. I took them to school and sold them for about 50p each. Then my brother put a market stall and I asked, “Can I buy some toys and sell them there?” I must have been about 15 then. So from sweets, to Avon perfumes, to stalls I’ve done a lot of different things and through all of this slowly but surely I was building my confidence.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Our stories, our LivesInspiring Muslim Women's Voices, pp. 93 - 98Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2009