A fifteen year old boy who dubbed himself the "Wolf of Walthamstow" after he made £25,000 selling drinks and snacks to his school mates, is considering donating money to the youth charity that first inspired him to make money legally.
“I’m thinking of selling some left-over items on Ebay and giving half the money to charity, maybe for children who haven’t got an education,” Nathan Joh n-Baptiste told The Independent .
The young entrepreneur, who had 11 employees working for him before his school in Tottenham, north London shut his business down, added: “I might donate it to Gangs Unite, who brought in a man called Carl to speak to us in Year Seven.
“He was a millionaire who was also going down the wrong path when he was my age and then instead became a property developer.”
Colin James, the head of Gangs Unite, told The Independent : “It’s the first I’ve heard of it, it seems surprising. We don’t do things for recompense. If he does or he doesn’t it’s not something I would lose sleep over.”
Mr James has been mentoring Nathan for the past three years, often meeting with him one-on-one to provide guidance and reassurance.
“It is at a Gangs Unite summer school for children with behavioural problems that Nathan first got inspired to start a business, after hearing Carl talk about how to make money legally," he said. “All the kids got something different out of it - some went into football, others just starting behaving better at school.
“He grasped the entrepreneurial side of Carl and just ran with it. As soon as the session finished he told me he wanted to go into property. It was Carl’s Bentley convertible that really turned the tables.”
Mr James added that Nathan had "always been ambitious and he would have made the money illegally if it wasn’t for going down this path. He’s changed incredibly. You can see the confident young man he’s become. He just needed to focus on something positive.”
Nathan said he is driven by “living a good life.”
His mother, who works in a station control point, and his father, a BT engineer, are both “just hard workers.
"They’ve installed in me the idea that you’ve got to work hard," he said. " My parents don’t struggle but I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
“I used to spend my money on designer garms and nice meals out. But I don’t spend it anymore, I’m going to invest it in a couple of businesses. I like the Wolf of Wall street lifestyle but the illegal stuff is not for me.”
Nathan was punished by authorities at his Christian school after they discovered the "Walking Talking" sweet shop he was running from the boys’ toilets.
“I understand the school being angry with me”, says Nathan. “But I think the punishment went too far.They put me in an isolation room for three days, from 8:30 to 4pm.
“It felt like being in prison. There was just a desk and then these old-fashioned things to separate students.
“It was very lonely. I spent the time doing school work and looking at stocks on my computer. You can shut my business down but not my business spirit.”
Mr James was also supportive of his charge.
“He’s not selling anything illegal, just sweets," he said. "Kids don’t want any of that Jamie Oliver stuff at school.”
He added there are "many more Nathans".
"A lot of young people are in a lot more awkward positions, in gangs, and they need help not only with their future but with their lives," he said. “If they can use this story and try and become entrepreneurs that’s great."
