Businesses hear inspirational tale as part of Funding Unlocked event

Businesses from across the Hyndburn area and beyond heard the inspirational tale of Kirsty Henshaw's rise from a council house in Preston to owner of a business turning over £16m - with an appearance on TV's Dragon Den along the way.

Kirsty, whose business Kirsty's was born from the need to find better quality free-from foods for her son, was the keynote speaker at Hyndburn Council's Funding Unlocked event at Accrington Stanley Football Club.

The event was one in a series aimed at supporting local businesses and raising awareness of opportunities on offer from the local authority and beyond.

Kirsty told attendees about her early life and how having a son gave her the inspiration to work hard to provide for her new family. That family was almost shattered when, having eaten some peanuts, she kissed her son goodnight only to see him go into anaphylactic shock.

The discovery of that nut allergy provided the inspiration for Kirsty to eventually set up her own business.

She said: "I started reading every label and then became obsessed with nutrition and allergies. I started to make everything from scratch.

"I wanted my son to be normal. I wanted him to eat what every other child was eating."

Kirsty's was born, and quickly hit its ceiling when Tesco asked for stock across 700 of its stores, and so she applied to BBC's Dragon's Den.

Of her appearance on the show, she told attendees: "I felt really prepared for all the questions. The only thing I wasn't prepared for was when they were really, really nice.

"They were calling me amazing and I burst into tears and then the tears wouldn't stop. They had to stop the show for a few minutes and Theo Paphitis tried to calm me down."

Ultimately Kirsty received a £65,000 investment from Dragons Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones.

Kirsty later parted ways with the Dragons when they wanted to take the business in different directions, and so she bought them out.

Now, with the support of a £2m backing from private equity, the business is on the up. And Kirsty was able to provide words of wisdom to businesses on the lookout for funding to grow.

She said: "Make sure the investors want the same thing from the business for the same timescale. That is one of the biggest lessons that I've learned."

The event, which was hosted by Lancashire Business View publisher Richard Slater, also heard from a number of people who provide funding to businesses.

Salma Chaudury, economic development manager at Hyndburn Council, advised businesses looking for funding to grow to 'start with their goal' and understand what they wanted to achieve.

She said: "Once you have that in mind, then you can sort of work backwards.

"Understand what you need then to get to that goal. That helps you break that down."

Mark Gibbons, from Business Finance North West, said businesses should seek funding advice at the earliest opportunity and not wait until the last minute.

He said: "Start the conversation earlier, rather than later.

"Don't wait until you have that point where you need funding yesterday. That really piles on pressure."

In addition, Leon Carroll from the King's Fund explained the charity's Enterprise Fund which offers support to entrepreneurs aged 18 to 30 while Rory Southworth, from angel investment group Fhunded, described the difference between debt investment and equity investment.