London entrepreneur who faced rock bottom in lockdown uses what she learned at Amazon to help small businesses thrive

The founder of an Amazon agency has revealed how she came back from rock bottom to build a service that helps small businesses grow their revenue on the online giant.

Sarah Scourfield, 29, founded Unicorn Orange in London in 2020 after she was left jobless as a result of the first lockdown – taking matters into her own hands and using what she’d learned at Amazon to help others.

“I was in vendor services at Amazon for about two years until October 2019,” she said. “I left to run a business with my fiancé that we’d been formulating for some time – it was an innovative water bottle business we brought to market after a successful crowdfunding campaign.

“Because our factory was in China, the initial Covid-19 outbreak meant the factory was shut for four months in early 2020.”

Sarah, with no income from the business, eventually found a job that she was set to start in March 2020.

“Three days before I was due to start, I was told they could no longer hire me,” she said. “After our water bottle business went under, this was another blow that put me in a bad place.

“I’ve always been full of drive, but this left me feeling hopeless – it was tough. Being 28 and having to borrow money from my parents to afford the mortgage wasn’t ideal. I couldn’t even buy my own laptop.

“Nevertheless, I knew I had a wealth of skills at my disposal that I could put to use if I just found a way.”

Having spent over 4,000 hours at Amazon HQ and helping around £60m worth of sales to be made, Sarah applied that knowledge to help up-and-coming businesses who deserved the chance at success.

“During that period, I met the owner of a small business at a mentoring scheme as well as another owner who I knew from school,” she said. “I reached out to them both and asked if they wanted help in increasing their sales on Amazon.

“I knew they weren’t making the most of Amazon during a time when it was becoming an essential part of any retail business – given that bricks and mortar were no longer operating.”

One year on, Unicorn Orange now has five employees and has a six-figure turnaround.

Sarah and her team have seen some of her clients’ sales grow over 2,000% since working with them.