{"id":43497,"date":"2013-12-06T15:36:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T15:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/?p=43497"},"modified":"2021-05-18T16:08:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T15:08:57","slug":"mumpreneur-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/mumpreneur-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Mumpreneur of the Year 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-43541\" alt=\"Crimson Publishing Start Ups Awards 2013\" src=\"\/startups-awards\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Mumpreneur_of_the_Year_Caroline_Sparks_Turtle_Tots_crop.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/Mumpreneur_of_the_Year_Caroline_Sparks_Turtle_Tots_crop.jpg 640w, https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/Mumpreneur_of_the_Year_Caroline_Sparks_Turtle_Tots_crop-320x195.jpg 320w, https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/Mumpreneur_of_the_Year_Caroline_Sparks_Turtle_Tots_crop-200x122.jpg 200w, https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/12\/Mumpreneur_of_the_Year_Caroline_Sparks_Turtle_Tots_crop-525x320.jpg 525w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\"><br><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Co-founders:<\/b> Caroline Sparks and Gabrielle Lixton<br><b>Year Started: <\/b>2011<b><br>Website:&nbsp;<\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtletots.com\">www.turtletots.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-43128 alignright\" alt=\"Turtle_Tots_logo\" src=\"\/startups-awards\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Turtle_Tots_logo.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"104\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/10\/Turtle_Tots_logo.jpg 320w, https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/10\/Turtle_Tots_logo-200x65.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\">Created by busy mums for mums, Turtle Tots is a swimming programme, which begins during pregnancy with aqua-natal yoga, and continues once the baby is born with specialist baby and toddler swimming classes.<\/p>\n<p>A license business, Turtle Tots has scaled quickly with 308 territories across the UK and has recently extended its trademark to Australia and Ireland with plans underway to trademark in America. Its model has proved just as attractive to customers; over 2,000 people have attended its classes and it boasts an impressive customer retention rate, growing by 25 to 30% every quarter.<\/p>\n<p>In recent months the &lsquo;aqua-natal&rsquo;-come-swimming franchise has received licensor approval from Lloyds TSB to enable it to provide business loans to prospective licensees if necessary, a move which Sparks and Lixton predict will see licencee numbers double over the next year. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Judges comments:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Returning as a second-time finalist, Caroline and Gabrielle are proof that persistence pays off. Combining their dedication to their young families with operating a highly successful licensee model, Turtle Tots already operates in 37 territories with 22 licensees and has clear plans for growth in Australia and other major markets. Judges feel sure the business is going places.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Co-founders: Caroline Sparks and Gabrielle LixtonYear Started: 2011Website:&nbsp;www.turtletots.com Created by busy mums for mums, Turtle Tots is a swimming programme, which begins during pregnancy with aqua-natal yoga, and continues once the baby is born with specialist baby and toddler swimming classes. A license business, Turtle Tots has scaled quickly with 308 territories across the UK [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91469,"featured_media":125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winners-2013"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Mumpreneur of the Year 2013 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/startups-awards\/mumpreneur-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mumpreneur of the Year 2013 - Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Co-founders: Caroline Sparks and Gabrielle LixtonYear Started: 2011Website:&nbsp;www.turtletots.com Created by busy mums for mums, Turtle Tots is a swimming programme, which begins during pregnancy with aqua-natal yoga, and continues once the baby is born with specialist baby and toddler swimming classes. 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