Single Lancashire mum turned multi-millionaire: It's been blood, sweat and tears but I've never given up
A woman who was a single mum at 19 went on Dragon's Den with her allergy-friendly food business - and it's now worth £15 MILLION.
Kirsty Henshaw, 39, grew up in a working class family in Preston, and fell pregnant aged 19 - raising her little boy as a single mum.
Soon after her son, Jacob, now 18, was born he was diagnosed with severe allergies to nuts and dairy.
So Kirsty set about creating a dairy-free ice cream recipe from her tiny kitchen so her son could eat it - and turned it into a small business.
The following year she took it onto Dragon's Den - and got a £65k investment from Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne.
In three years the business - called Kirsty's - expanded into a range of 'free from' ready meals and she bought them out of their investment.
And 15 years after first launching, Kirsty's is the UK’s number one free-from ready meal brand - worth £15 MILLION.
Kirsty, now a single mum-of-two, living in Hale, Cheshire, said: "I had always been entrepreneurial but we didn't have much money growing up.
"After having Jacob I realised the free-from sections of supermarkets were dull - back then there was nothing.
"I wanted to create something to feel I wasn't alone in this allergy world - I made something Jacob could eat and could also benefit others.
"When I went on Dragon's Den I was only making ice cream but I had ideas for a much bigger collection of products.
"My friends advised me not to go on the show but I wanted to prove people wrong - and it ended up being the making of the business.
"Investment enabled me to expand - and now Kirsty's is stocked in almost every supermarket.
"It's been a lot of blood, sweat and tears but I've never given up hope - now I just want to keep growing."
Kirsty discovered the severity of Jacob's allergies for the first time at six months old.
Jacob went into anaphylaxis as a result of Kirsty kissing him on the mouth an hour after snacking on unknowingly peanuts.
But at the time, Kirsty said the selection of allergy-friendly options in supermarkets was "dull" and it felt isolating.
Kirsty worked late as a bartender to be able to pay rent on a tiny two-bed house for them, while raising her son alone as a teen mum.
In her limited free time she began experimenting with making free-from foods in her tiny kitchen of her two-bed home.
When Jacob was three, after getting herself a budget ice cream maker from Argos for £30, Kirsty developed a tasty dairy-free recipe.
She thought others would benefit too and started a business with a small manufacturer to sell it in local health food shops - funding it by picking up extra bar shifts at work.
After working out a business plan, she took the idea onto Dragon's Den in 2010 - and secured £65k of investment.
She said: "I was naive, and I was so nervous.
"But because I did everything in the business myself, from finance to pitching and marketing, I knew the answers to all of their questions.
"And that investment from Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne, in exchange for 15% each, was the making of my business."
Over the following years the brand moved away from ice cream and into frozen and chilled ready meals, pizzas and eventually desserts.
After three years she was able to buy the Dragons out of their investments.
Soon Kirsty's products could be seen on the shelves of supermarkets including Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrison's, Tesco, Nisa and Co-op.
She said: "Now, we are known to be a free-from brand but we're not just sold to people with allergies."
The brand now has a factory in Yorkshire, where 90% of their products are made, and they are working towards becoming carbon-neutral.
The business has some 60 employees now - including her son Jacob, the inspiration behind the whole company.
Kirsty, also mum to Sophie, six, said: "Sales are £15million a year, and we're working towards bringing that up to £25million in the next two years.
"For me, the learning over the last few years has been huge - I think I could write a business degree from everything I've learnt.
"I never really stop and think about how far we've come, but I'm very pleased. It hasn't been easy.
"But I've never given up hope and I want to show my children what you can achieve if you work hard.
"I just want to normalise free-from food - that actually tastes good and is healthy.
"It's something that can be part of your diet, allergies or not."