An award winning business has secured funding to open a new training hub in Long Eaton, allowing more people to learn life saving skills in the local community.
Managing Director for Mini First Aid Nottingham and Derby, Maria Matthews, said: “With only 1 in 10 people surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest, learning First Aid is a key life skill that more people should know. We have trained thousands of parents/carers along with workplaces to save a life since we started in 2020. We have also taught over 8000 local children. By 2025 we want to double that number.”
A statement said that despite being a vital skill, it can still be hard to access quality First Aid training, with workplaces finding it both costly and difficult to organise, and for those wanting training for personal reasons, it can be difficult to find suitable short courses aimed at their needs.
Maria continued: “We pride ourselves on making First Aid accessible to a wider audience. We host parents classes where babies are welcome (and we are delighted that grandparents often attend too!). Finding childcare can be difficult but with our classes parents can still access this training as we welcome babies at our courses.”
Seeing a gap in the market Mini First Aid Nottingham and Derby sought £5,000 in funding from First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans under the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme to invest in a training centre to benefit the local community. Mini First Aid Nottingham and Derby have had a fantastic year in 2023 obtaining their own premises and going on to be declared 'Favourite Service Provider for parents, babies and toddlers' at the Nottingham Baby and Toddler Awards.
Maria Matthews added: “This funding has been instrumental in establishing a dedicated space for Mini First Aid, enabling us to make life-saving skills accessible to everyone in our local community. We are delighted that the premises is now up and running. We are also absolutely thrilled to have been awarded Nottingham's favourite service provider for parents, babies and toddlers this year and we are so excited about our plans and growth for 2024”
Forbes Lucas, Business Adviser at First Enterprise – Enterprise Loans said: “It was fantastic to have the opportunity to support Maria and her impactful business. From the very beginning, Maria was very clear about her vision for her business and the way in which Start Up Loans would be a great support for expansion. First aid training saves lives, so it’s a privilege for myself and First Enterprise to be a part of Maria’s story and I can only wish her every success.”
Richard Bearman, Managing Director of Small Business Lending, British Business Bank commented: “We are proud to be supporting Mini First Aid Nottingham and Derby to establish a dedicated space and help them to continue to provide first aid training to people of all ages. Maria has created a vital and noteworthy business that is important to the local community and I look forward to her achieving much more success in helping the local residents learn life saving skills.”