Marnie Zubair never expected to become a viral TikTok star, a self-made entrepreneur or the youngest business partner of Lord Sugar when she launched her jewellery business Tresor. While she started Tresor as a side hustle at the age of 17, it has since grown into a renowned jewellery brand as of today. Within two years of starting her business in the first year of her college, she has become the youngest business partner of Lord Sugar, the star of the BBC reality show The Apprentice. A native to Moseley - Birmingham, Marnie launched Tresor when she was 17 and still at college, raising money to fund the business by reselling clothes from charity shops on eBay.

Dropping Out Of University

While pursuing a marketing major at Aston University, her classes switched to online mode during the pandemic, much to her dismay. But fortunately for her, that was when her online jewellery business took off. This left Marnie to reconsider her future at Aston University. Marnie explains, ‘I did marketing but I dropped out. Everything was online for me [during the pandemic] and I wasn't a fan. I wanted to focus on my business, full time'.

But quitting college after 6 months proved to be quite a challenge for her. ‘I stuck at uni for as long as I could but I dropped out and I didn't tell my dad. And then all this kind of happened and I had to tell him’, adds Marnie. So as her business began to take off by March 2021, Marnie decided to drop out of university and move into an office space to focus more on building her business. She has grown from a viral sensation to a self-made entrepreneur employing a small team of five at her Hagley Road office in Birmingham and sells hundreds of pieces of jewellery a week. So it's safe to say she has no regrets about quitting college.

Tresor

Her startup Tresor is an online jewellery business that concentrates on the ‘highest quality jewellery at the most affordable price’ and is said to ‘feel like solid gold but cost a fraction of the price’. Tresor’s jewellery has been described as ‘chunky, edgy and slightly odd’ with risqué chants engraved on their rings - making it a brand that isn't afraid to stand out.

What elevated Tresor’s status from the ground up was a video Marnie created to promote her products on Tiktok. Since its release, the video went viral amassing nearly five million views on TikTok. Tresor’s jewellery sold out overnight and Marnie received over 1,000 orders in a single day.

Becoming Lord Sugar's Business Partner

The pinnacle of Tresor’s legacy so far is attracting investment from one of the UK's most eminent investors in the form of Lord Sugar. One day Marnie came upon one of Lord Sugar’s tweets inviting small businesses to reach out to his company. Being a fan of Lord Sugar, Marnie took the advice and emailed his investment company Armvest to introduce her jewellery business.

She was then surprised to find that Lord Sugar has got back to her to arrange a call with his associate, who then invited her to their head office in Alton. The meeting proved to be successful as Marnie has now become the youngest business partner of Lord Sugar.

Overcoming Obstacles

Marnie’s journey in the jewellery business is not without obstacles. One particular incident came close to rocking Marnie’s entrepreneurial spirit. Marnie received an email one day from an unhappy customer who claimed her £26 worth, 18-carat gold-plated signet ring never arrived, hinting she wanted a refund. The customer attached an image of the package she received from Tresor in her email but neglected to take off the ring she was trying to steal.

But when Marnie analysed the image of the empty packaging, she was stunned to find the distinctive ring of Tresor, on the customer's right index finger. When Marnie called out that the 'missing' ring was on her finger, she was immediately blocked by the customer. After spotting the ring on her hand, Marnie posted a video to TikTok exposing the customer who was trying to steal a ring. Although this particular attempt at a steal failed, Marnie admits that she has had to deal with such attempts at theft before.

More About Marnie

The young businesswoman admits she gets her entrepreneurial spirit from her mother. ‘Growing up my whole life my mum had so many businesses. She ran nurseries, a salon, everything. She was someone who I looked up to growing up’, says Marnie.

Despite becoming a celebrity in the business world, Marnie still lives at home with her father and younger siblings. Even though her business had become a hit, Marnie isn’t sure about moving her business to the economic centre of London. Marnie says ‘I love Birmingham, I love my city so much’. She also jokingly adds, ‘I'm scared of the tube’.

You can check out our conversation with Marnie on the Pennies To Pounds podcast here.

Watch the episode below:

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