Business management

Gynelle Leon on using your passion to start a business

Prick LDN was the capital’s first specialist cactus and succulent boutique.

17 Oct 2023 . 1 min read

As Gynelle takes her shop online, she says it’s never too late to turn what you love doing into a business.

Gynelle’s Business Confession:

“When I registered the company to begin with it was as ‘Prick Me Baby One More Time’ limited and I traded as Prick. But when I went to register the company at Companies House, they wouldn't let me register it as Prick Limited because it was deemed as slightly offensive.

“I went through a multitude of different names. I was kind of spit balling off the top of my head. I am a Britney fan. I love Britney. So, it's all fun and games at that point. But then when you're actually a legitimate company and you're having to register your phone line and they're asking you a business name or you're working with suppliers and they're having to make out an invoice to Prick Me Baby One More Time, I realised this was serious.

“In the moment, it was funny. But then the implications of your business name on a long-term basis were more important, so I had to change it over to Prick Cacti and Succulents Limited.”

I want to share these wonderful plants with the rest of the world because there's so many people like me that previously had no idea that thousands of species of these really unusual, very loyal, hardy plants existed.

Gynelle Leon

Founder of Prick LDN.

Who is Gynelle’s business inspiration?

“It's very close to home, it’s Sharmadean Reid. Because I remember before I started my business knowing that Sharmadean had started Wah! Nails and I’d seen that whole journey from the get-go. And then she had [her son] Roman and I remember so many women around me, thinking she can do it, we can do it!

“I think that's the thing about seeing someone that's like you, especially your age group, from the same kind of background, doing things successfully. You feel like if she can do it, I can too.”

Watch or listen to Sharmadean Reid’s episode on The NatWest Business Show.

Watch the episode to find out more about Gynelle’s inspirational business journey.

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