Furniture firm receives business boost

A Shropshire firm has received a business boost from retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, of Dragon’s Den fame.

Vanessa Dee, owner of Condover Furniture, tweeted Theo about her business during ‘Small Business Sunday’.

And her tweet - "Furniture should be funky and fun, not something utilitarian sitting in the room!" - led to her  becoming one of six weekly winners to gain a retweet by Theo to his 500,000 Twitter followers. 

The weekly initiative, set up by Theo in 2010, now has over 2500 #SBS winners and supports small businesses in the UK. As a result, Condover Furniture has increased its following and the company is also profiled on the #SBS website that is exclusive to all Small Business Sunday winners.

Vanessa Dee said: “This is fabulous recognition for all the hard work I’ve put into starting this new environmentally-friendly furniture company. I still work out of my home and it is great to have support from Theo Paphitis and SBS Sunday because it’s been tough trying to raise the company profile.  Theo has recognised my hard work and helped spread the word about what I do to his following and each week I’m gaining new followers.”

The company buys furniture and restores it to make it desirable again. 

"I give it new life, painting and waxing it using only top quality environmentally-friendly products and embellish it with individually hand-made glass knobs from both Venice in Italy and Nottinghamshire in the UK," said Vanessa. "I’m not only prolonging the life of existing unwanted and discarded furniture which in itself helps the environment, but also ensuring I use only environmentally-friendly products and the key is I make it cool."

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 of like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings. The website will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish Condover Furniture every success.”

Anyone looking for a re‐tweet from Theo should tweet him about their business on Sunday between 5 PM and 7.30 PM 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.