WHEN a 24-year-old young entrepreneur from Llanidloes found herself struggling to find a High Street bank to fund her plans for a fledgling business, she found the door firmly shut.

Five years later Amy Parrotte is in charge of Pitter Patter, a successful day nursery in the town employing 15 people.

She says it would not have been possible without the financial backing of a local ethical lender Robert Owen Community Banking.

Amy, 29, is encouraging others with a good business idea to follow their dreams like she did.

“There is no way I would have got the nursery up and running without the help of the people at Robert Owen,” admits Amy.

“I had no money to set up the business although I had a good idea of what I wanted to achieve and the kind of nursery I wanted to offer parents in a town where at the time there was no help.”

Newtown-based Robert Owen Community Banking provides a range of loans including Small Business Development Loans of up to £50,000 for businesses such as Pitter Patter which have been running for two years and want to scale up and grow.

The not-for-profit organisation sources the funds locally and reinvests in the community.

Robert Owen Community Banking recognised Amy’s potential and over the next few years it has loaned Pitter Patter £20,000 in total.

CEO Mark White said Amy was just the kind of client they wanted to help.

“Amy is absolutely right at the heart of what our lending should be about. It’s a community based business but very much a business.

“Amy is a tremendous young entrepreneur with a firm grip on everything that is going on in her business and she inspires confidence.”

Initially, the business started up in smaller premises but following a move to a bigger space, numbers have expanded to such an extent that Amy is having to turn children away.

Staff at the nursery have grown to 15 full and part time workers and Amy is also offering apprenticeships to grow local talent.

In her expansion plans for the future Amy says she would like to be able to buy the Pitter Patter building, currently rented from Powys County Council, and be able to offer more daycare for children aged up to 12.