Toy business started by Milton Keynes mum at her kitchen table wins huge boost from Dragon Den's Theo Paphitis

An educational toy business started by an MK mum and dad has gained worldwide recognition thanks to a Dragon's Den expert.

Teddo Play was started by Keisha Shah and her husband Amit round their kitchen table 18 months ago.

Already their learning resource sets, designed to boost children's IQs, have won awards nationally. But this month famous business entrepreneur Theo Paphitis prompted a flurry of orders and interest by tweeting about it to his half a million followers on Twitter.

Keisha had described the startup company on the Small Business Sunday section of Theo's website www.theopaphitissbs.com . The weekly initiative, set up by Theo in 2010, now has over 3,000 #SBS winners and supports small businesses in the UK.

Teddo Play was declared the winner and, after the high profile promotion, now has hundreds more followers.

Theo, who is behind Ryman Stationery, Robert Dyas and Boux Avenue, 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 Keisha every success with Teddo Play.”

The company makes unique award-winning learning resources for children aged between three and 14. The brightly-coloured themed sets help encourage conversations and make learning fun and easy for children.

They help boost children’s IQ levels and memory skills and instill a natural enthusiasm for learning, says Keisha.

"We've only been in business a year and a half, working from our kitchen table juggling our parenting and entrepreneurial lives to the best of our abilities. It's great to have support from Theo because it’s not easy for small independent brands like ours to raise our profiles," she said.

"Theo has recognised our hard work and helped spread the word about what we do to his following. I can’t wait to take our educational products to more and more children and families across the UK and beyond and make a huge positive impact on children's intellectual growth and development.”

Teddo Play also supports of Room to Read, the international Children's Education Charity. For every learning set sold, Keisha and Amit buy a book produced for a Room to Read library supporting children from low-income communities worldwide.

Anyone looking for a retweet from Theo can tweet him about their business on Sundays between 5pm and 7.30pm and include the hashtag #SBS. Six lucky businesses are re‐tweeted every Monday at 8 PM and then invited to enter their profile on the new website, attend the annual #SBS networking event and take advantage of the networking opportunities.