This archive report was first published on 26 August 2019.
Vanessa's passion for music began in 2004 when she took her young children to a music session that failed to engage them. This experience led her to establish Tiny Mites Music, a business that provides branded music, movement, and drama-based classes for babies, toddlers, and pre-school children.
As Vanessa explains, 'I wanted to connect really young children with new, fun material that could cultivate a lifelong love of music for them.' What makes Tiny Mites unique is that all of the songs are entirely original, recorded by live musicians, and feature a collection of original characters.
Initially, Vanessa faced significant challenges, including a lack of funding. She wrote 36 original songs over an eight-month period but didn't have the resources to record them. With the help of her family connections in the music industry, she was able to persuade musicians to offer their services in exchange for payment once the business had built up sufficient financial resources.
Vanessa's first paid sessions took place in a field, where she invited mothers she knew and their friends. She charged £4 per child for a half-hour session, which gave her some money to 'pay back the musicians who had helped me and meant I could print some flyers to advertise my business.'
However, Vanessa's journey was not without its challenges. She has multiple sclerosis (MS) and had to cope with the fatigue that came with it. She explains, 'My children were still young enough to be taking naps in the middle of the day; I slept when they did and then wrote at night.' Despite these challenges, Vanessa persevered and eventually moved to limited company status in 2009.
Today, Tiny Mites Music employs ten actress/singers to deliver classes and is set to bring in around Sh20.2 million this year. Vanessa is 'constantly cold calling' nurseries to raise awareness of the business and has expanded into holiday parks, theatre in education, and has two theatre shows.
