Garstang entrepreneur receives publicity boost from former Dragon

A Garstang‐based children’s board game business has received a boost in publicity from Retail Entrepreneur Theo Paphitis.

Jen Shillitoe, founder of Little Acorn Games, tweeted Theo about her business during Small Business Sunday (SBS) and was one of six weekly winners to gain a retweet by Theo to his 500,000 followers.

The weekly initiative, which was set up by the former Dragon’s Den investor in 2010, has had over 2,500 SBS winners and supports small businesses in the UK.

Theo re‐tweeted Jen’s message to his almost 500,000 followers and as a result, Little Acorn Games has increased its following and received extra orders for its children’s board game, Funny Fairies. Winners are also profiled on the SBS website.

Jen and her daughter — Jen and her seven-year-old daughter

Jen, mum to two young children aged seven and four, had the ‘lightbulb moment’ for Funny Fairies whilst playing board games with her daughter in Autumn 2018.

After being unable to find anything like it in the shops, she decided to make it herself and set up Little Acorn Games to get it out into the world.

She said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have won SBS and am still on cloud nine. I launched online sales of Funny Fairies in April of this year after successfully crowd-funding last November to raise the funds needed for the first mass production run.

“Sales have been steadily increasing both through our website and Amazon as the 5* reviews have built up, but it’s always difficult to raise the profile of a new business, especially in a market like children’s games where there are already so many favourite brands.

“It means so much that Theo has recognised the hard work put in and helped spread the word about Funny Fairies.”

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Theo Paphitis, said: “We are thrilled to welcome new SBS members every week and highlight just how important it is to support our small businesses here in the UK.

“My vision is that everyone who has ever won an SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings.

“The website will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish Little Acorn Games every success.”

Have you been inspired by Jen’s story? Tell us more in the comments below.