New firrm sets sights on growth

An Ayrshire based start- up firm is set for UK expansion following a £ 10,000 win from its mentoring arm.

The Little Art School, which offers people of all ages the chance to learn to paint and draw, bagged a £ 10,000 award at the Entrepreneurial Spark Awards earlier this year.

Now they are preparing to take the company nationwide from their Dundondald base.

Originally working from co- founder Joanne Robinson’s dining room table, the business has seen rapid growth.

With a projected annual turnover of £ 10 million by 2020, and an anticipated 100 schools operating across the UK by then, the start- up is focused on “giving back to their local community” as the business grows via their charity The Little Art School Trust.

Set up by Joanne and Melissa Haddow in 2013, the school offers toddlers to the elderly a chance to learn new skills and employs over 30 part- time staff with plans for five more schools in the coming months.

In September last year, the Trust was founded as an official registered charity ( SCIO) focused on teaching people with Alzheimer’s and their carers to draw and paint.

Joanne said: “The last three months have been absolutely incredible.

“The money we were awarded at the Entrepreneuring Awards in January really helped us make our vision to expand into Glasgow a reality, and we’re now about to open our first school in England.

“We were often told in the beginning that we were being naïve and unrealistic, but our recent growth and incredible feedback we get on a daily basis just goes to prove that anyone can start their own business.”