A Leeds mum has landed a £50k investment after she impressed a Dragons’ Den entrepreneur with her brilliant business idea.
Mum-of-six Kate Ball, from Leeds, and her husband Matt appeared on the BBC One show in a bid to secure an investment for their family business, in an episode that aired on Thursday, June 24.
The husband and wife duo had set-up Mini First Aid in January 2014 - a business offering baby and child first aid classes for for all the family - from parents, grandparents and carers to children as young as three years old.
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It was during the appearance on the show, that Kate opened up about the tragedy that inspired the business.
Kate said: “We had some family circumstances when my brother passed away.
“The first young people on the scene weren’t able to perform CPR because they didn’t know how to.
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“I just had this passion that first aid needed to be something that people could learn easily and also that it was accessible.”
Kate explained that her brother had had a heart condition called cardiomyopathy, and he never knew he was poorly, until the first time he went into cardiac arrest.
She continued: “He was surrounded by a group of young people, they had just finished their degree, he collapsed and they’re trying to guess what to do when it comes to CPR.
“It was tragic because I lost my brother.”
Kate’s passion for making First Aid accessible for everyone to learn inspired her and her husband to launch Mini First Aid in 2014.
Since launching the business, the savvy couple transformed it into a franchise and now had over 65 franchisees across the country.
But wanting an investment to take their business to the next level, Kate and Matt, along with four out of their six children, decided to pitch the product to the infamous entrepreneurs.
They wanted £50,000 investment in exchange for 10 per cent equity in the company.
Kate opened her pitch by stating that “learning to save a life” was the most important thing you could ever learn.
She explained that the business had expanded to offer classes, not just for parents and carers, but also for those that required a first aid qualification at their place of work and also for children.
Kate then asked her daughter to demonstrate the skills she had learnt during a first aid class.
So impressed with the business idea, businesswoman Sara Davies offered all of the investment for 20 per cent of company.
After a little negotiating, Sara agreed to drop her offer to only a 10 per cent stake in the business after 18 months - providing she got all her money back - to which Kate and Matt agreed.
Clearly thrilled and relieved the process was over, afterwards Kate said: “Having six kids was nothing compared to that”.
To find out more about Mini First Aid, click here:
