A BUSINESS owner has received recognition from a Dragons' Den star for his business which was born from his grief for his sister.

Theo Paphitis highlighted the family-run firm on his social media page.

Precious Memories, based in Warrington, was founded in November 2020 after Anthony Murray’s sister passed away unexpectedly.

In what was a dark time for the family, Anthony decided to buy a keepsake for his relatives in honour of his sister’s memory.

After weeks of searching online, the 39-year-old couldn’t find anything suitable so his wife, Steph, encouraged him to make his own.

He spent months researching and making prototypes and the result was wearable smart pendants and keyrings.

These items allowed Anthony’s family to access images of his sister by scanning their smart keepsake using an app.

This then led to an app being established so Anthony can support others who want to have their loved ones close and the company’s product range has continued to grow – ranging from different types of teddy bears and key rings.

Warrington Guardian:

Anthony with his wife Steph and daughter Ava

Anthony runs the business alone, with the help of his wife and daughter, Ava, when needed, alongside his full-time job where he is a recovery worker in a mental health hospital in Warrington.

And now, after more than a year full of 17-hour shifts, Precious Memories has been recognised by Theo Paphitis, chairperson of Rymans, entrepreneur and a BBC dragon.

Precious Memories was retweeted by Theo as part of his ‘Small Business Sunday’ (#SBS) initiative where six winners gain a retweet from him to his near 500k Twitter followers.

As a result of this, Precious Memories received nearly 400 more followers and extra orders.

Anthony, from Newton-le-Willows, said: “We’ve only been in business a year and I still work out of my home office.

“It is great to have support from Theo because it’s been tough trying to raise our profile during these last 18 months and Theo has recognised our hard work and helped spread the word about what we do to his following.”

Theo said: “We are thrilled to welcome new #SBS members every week and highlight just how important it is to support our small businesses here in the UK.

“My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS retweet from me becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings.

“The website will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish Anthony every success.”

Anthony has plans to launch new products which are currently in the protype stage and his dream for this year is to have Precious Memories products on shelves in local stores.

He is also looking to do several pop-up stores in the Golden Square.

To find out more about Precious Memories, visit here.