THURROCK-based franchisees of a national chain offering pregnancy relaxation, baby massage, baby reflexology and baby yoga classes have expressed delight after their work was highlighted by entrepreneur and TV Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis.

The baby franchise business was highlighted in a tweet by the retail guru to his near half a million Twitter followers during his weekly initiative to support small businesses in the UK

Jen Dowding runs the Laindon and Orsett franchises of Basking Babies and said: "We are thrilled to be recognised as one of Theo's Small Business Sunday winners, and in the month of our 10-year anniversary too! I love teaching classes and supporting families in the area - it honestly doesn't feel like work at all.

"Here's to the next 10 years!"

Those sentiments were echoed by Vicki Milo who also runs a franchise, in Chafford Hundred

Basking Babies first started when founder Carla Davison was pregnant with her first child. She was so intrigued by the associated benefits of baby massage for both parent and baby she decided to train as an instructor. When her first child was born in June 2012, it was also the birth of Basking Babies. Only a few weeks after his birth, she ran her first baby massage classes from her house in Brentwood.

The demand for Carla's classes continuously grew. She moved her classes to a venue, expanded into baby yoga and then took on her first three franchisees in May 2014. In each subsequent year she has developed the business and taken on more franchisees.

Carla also grew her own family at the same time. She had her second son in January 2015, sadly lost her twin girls in July of 2017, had her third son in June of 2018 and her baby girl in 2021.

Anyone hoping for a retweet from Theo Paphitis should tweet him about their business on Sunday between 5pm and 7.30pm and include the hashtag #SBS.