Sharon Hilditch achieved a City and Guilds qualification in hairdressing and beauty therapy aged 17, and by the time she was 18 had bought her first salon.
The business, set up with an £8,000 bank loan guaranteed by her father, thrived, as did a second salon bought a few years later.
She sold both her salons for a good profit, and took a job in a cosmetic-surgery hospital, where she spotted a gap in the market for a gentler form of anti-aging treatment.
In 1995, she launched Crystal Clear skin products. It is now stocked by Selfridges, John Lewis and House of Fraser, exports to 20 countries, has target sales of £10m a year and has supplied products to Madonna, Cindy Crawford and Victoria Beckham.
Hilditch left school at 15 with no qualifications but has worked since she was a schoolgirl, and says the secret to her success is: "You have got to have passion for whatever you are doing."
