Costing the Dream: Tiny Mites Music

Vanessa Heywood hopes to create a range of Tiny Mites dolls for the next phase of her business

Vanessa Heywood became an entrepreneur because she felt she had little choice. Her marriage had collapsed, leaving her with two young children to support, no income - and little chance of employment after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

"I felt desperate," the 43-year-old says. "I couldn't get a job because the boys were young and because of my illness. Some days, I don't feel well and can't even climb the stairs to bed."

The idea for her Hertfordshire-based company, Tiny Mites Music, came in 2004, after Heywood took her sons Charlie and Brinley, then aged five and four, to a local children's music club that proved less than inspiring.

"We were all excited, expecting lots of music and movement but, when we got there, it was a group of mothers sitting around drinking coffee while the toddlers clapped and sang 'The Wheels on the Bus'," she recalls.

"It was so disappointing. I came home thinking that I could do much better than that."

Heywood was probably more aware of the group's shortcomings than most, having been a stage actress and dancer before being struck down with MS at 24.

She researched how younger children develop and learn, and composed songs about Tiny Mites, a set of magical musical characters she had made up in stories for her sons. Each song was structured like a lesson, with the words acted out by Tiny Mites puppets made by Heywood - and children encouraged to participate.

"My neighbour ran a nursery group and let me test the songs and puppets on the children. I also tried them out at local infant schools to find out what the kids enjoyed most."

When Heywood had 36 songs, she recorded them with professional musicians, using a £2,000 grant from the Dancers and Equity Trust (since renamed the equity fund of Dancers Career Development).

She didn't have the money to hire a hall, so her first class was held in a field owned by her local church. "I had proper sound equipment which my sister helped lug to the field and the church allowed me to connect to their electricity."

Heywood invited 15 mums and their kids for a free session. This 15 soon became 35 and she ran one class a week over the summer, at £5 a child. "When it rained, the church took pity and let us inside," she recalls.

Heywood then approached a local nursery, now part of the Busy Bees chain, to host her classes.

"I turned up on their doorstep like a bag lady with all my stuff and offered to do a free class," she says. "There were 35 kids, plus all the staff, and I felt suddenly incredibly scared. But, at the end, the nurses all clapped and cheered and I felt elated."

<

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.

Recent economic gloom has made growth more difficult. "In the past month, we've had three or four nurseries saying they can no longer afford us," Heywood admits. "If more in the chain say that, it could be a big problem."

When the credit crunch hit, Heywood tried to be proactive, pitching her classes to holiday parks because she thought cash-strapped families would stay at home rather than abroad. Her first target customer, Thomson Holidays, said it could not afford her. She then secured a deal with Haven Holidays to train staff to run classes for the 2010 season, but the contract was not renewed due to a management reshuffle. Discussions are continuing for 2012.

Heywood has since developed other services, including a training programme for nursery staff, and has begun baby classes.

One of the key events in the development of the business came just over a year ago, when Heywood won the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs, set up by EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Its £50,000 prize enabled her to stage an interactive musical show, Tiny Mites at The Seaside, which played to sell-out theatre audiences last year.

It also helped fund a move into franchising. A pilot scheme in Essex, started in June, now involves 28 nurseries and five employees, and a second, started in Hertfordshire last October, is expanding rapidly, Heywood notes.

"If franchising works, it will help me expand nationally. The main issue is to keep delivering the product, which means me personally auditioning potential franchisees and then continually supporting them."

Heywood is also in talks to manufacture Tiny Mites dolls, with a percentage of proceeds going to charity.

Her MS was a big setback, she says, but it has made her more determined to succeed. "Simple, every day tasks are difficult now. Some days I feel really ill, but mostly I get tired easily, I cannot walk far and my balance is affected. At the same time, my MS has spurred me on, made me realise you can still succeed if you stay positive and find a way round your illness. I am much more focused now and determined to achieve my dreams."

Tiny Mites Music's strength lies in its original and copyrighted material - which Heywood is constantly updating - and in its expansion into new markets. It is well placed financially, too, with no debt. Franchising now offers an opportunity to turn the business into a national brand.

However, challenges remain: not just the economy, but a couple of close competitors, and Heywood's illness. She also needs £12,000 to set up the doll manufacturing, while ensuring franchising does not weaken the product or the company's reputation.

© The Financial Times Limited 2012. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation