Small West Lothian Business Receives Boost from Dragons Den Star

A West Lothian-based firm has received a business boost from Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis.

In April last year Laura Carey, owner of Big Heart, Little Minds tweeted Theo to tell her about her business during Small Business Sunday and was one of six weekly winners to gain a retweet by Theo to his near half a million Twitter followers.

The weekly initiative, set up by Theo in 2010, now has over 3000 #SBS winners and supports small businesses in the UK.

The business and retail entrepreneur holds an annual event for all winners of #SBS.

This was held in Birmingham ICC on February 25, the first since the pandemic, and is a place to influence and celebrate small businesses and present them with their certificate.

Laura said: “I founded Big Heart, Little Minds in October 2019 running one pre-school class, weekly. The class was aimed at supporting the emotional development of children, giving them tools such as growth mindset, emotion awareness, the ability to use their senses to focus on the present and teach them regulation skills. When lockdown hit, all classes were put on hold and I took classes online. This is when I won #SBS.

Since then, I have gone on to launch my own resources to support emotions, more classes, online training courses and now with the help of a new team member Lorna Gardner, we are rolling out free, accessible support groups in West Lothian. We are taking on volunteers, providing training and hoping to make a difference in West Lothian and beyond. Everyone needs someone to relate to, at every stage of parenting.

We have been told for two years that it is safer to stay at home but we want to show that we can have face-to-face interactions, normalise the need for connection once again and give our families tools (if they need it) to support the mental health and wellbeing of them, their babies, children and young people."

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