A BUSINESS that aims to help mums and their young children has received a hoard of treasure from the Dragons’ Den.

The dragons on the notoriously tough BBC television programme chose to invest £35,000 in mum2mum, after founder Cath Harrop took her courage in her hands and appeared on the show in February. Her venture attracted the unblinking gaze – and approval – of dragon Deborah Meaden.

Now the cash has come through, and Cath is delighted: “I was extremely nervous about getting through my pitch. Having my baby, Mabel, to look after while I was waiting to pitch was a great distraction from the mounting pressure.”

“Appearing in front of the dragons, and having Deborah invest in mum2mum market, was a huge boost to the business, and to my confidence in my abilities.  Having started the business from scratch it is thrilling to get recognition from someone as astute and well respected as Deborah Meaden.”

Mother of three, Cath organises secondhand sales of baby and children’s goods. She wanted investment from the dragons to improve the company website, after a period of rapid growth since 2011.

Markets for mum2mum are held locally in Hook and Fleet throughout the year. They enable new parents to find cheap, good–quality clothes for their children, and then sell them when the kids grow out of them.

But the company now reaches a much wider area. There are markets in over 100 locations across country.

They offer flexible work options for the parents who run them. Despite the massive demand for flexible hours among women with small children, Cath reckons there are remarkably few options.

Big businesses find it hard to adapt to the needs of family life. Typically their workers have to be in a set place at a set time – and 100 percent focused on work.

For mum2mum market franchisees, the day-to-day business is marketing the events to other mums, which fits in perfectly with family life.

Cath continued: “I didn’t expect to get investment.  The male Dragons seemed to declare themselves out fairly quickly. They were right in the sense that mum2mum market is never going to make anyone millions. 

“But for me and our franchisees, the opportunity to work flexibly around our children without the need for childcare makes a huge difference to the life of our families.”

The nearby markets in Hook, Fleet and Aldershot are run by army wife, Samantha Scott, along with her husband and two children.

Samantha was excited about the new funding, and what it will mean for the company: “As a really small local business, getting national exposure on prime time television is amazing. Enquiries and stall bookings have gone berserk since the show aired. 

“I really hope this publicity will introduce more mums to the joys of buying and selling secondhand at their local mum2mum market, and the huge savings which can be made.”

The next event in Hook is on June 18 at North Warnborough village hall, where stalls can be booked at mum2mummarket.co.uk. Buyers pay £2 admission on the door.