A YOUNG woman from Tenbury who is running her own business wants the education system to do more to encourage young people to be entrepreneurs.

Ellie Short, aged 18, has been in business since she left Tenbury High School and has been running her own shop on the town for nearly six months.

She has ambitious plans for the future and hopes that in time she will be the owner of a string a beauty salons that all started in Tenbury.

But she believes that too many young people who may have great talent but are not particularly academic are being sold short by the education system.

Ellie, who comes from a family of business people in Tenbury, decided that this is the direction that she wanted to take when she left Tenbury High School two years ago.

She believes that one of the most important factors is to have a clear idea of where young people want to go with their lives.

In her case it was to go to college in Worcester to study beauty.

After that Ellie started running her business from home for about 18 months, during which time she was saving her money to open a business in the town.

Ellie says that this was also an important time in which she built a customer base which she could take with her when she moved from working from home and into the shop.

“The beauty business is quite expensive and the equipment is costly so I had to save hard,” said Ellie.

It was in March this year that she opened the business ‘Shorty’s Studio’ in Cross Street.

The business involves providing a range of treatments including nails, tanning, sun beds, massages and facials.

At the moment Ellie undertakes the treatments and her mother works on reception.

She says that one of the big changes in the beauty business has been the increase in the number of men that are customers.

“I would say that the majority of my customers are women but there are a large number of men who want to make sure that they look and feel good,” said Ellie.

Another issue is that many people like to be able to come in the evening and this has led to late night opening several days a week.

Ellie is convinced that more young people should be encouraged to look at a career in business as an alternative to being railroaded into going along an academic route that may leave them still struggling to get a job but with a large burden of debt.

“I find that too many people young people find themselves in dead end jobs,” said Ellie.

But she warns that going into business should not be seen as an easy option as it involves hard work and dedication but can result in a sense of satisfaction and rewards that do not come from working for other people.

“It is important to have a clear view of what you want and also to have a business plan from the start and to make sure that you follow that plan,” Ellie added.