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Young, hard-working, building a future for her family, she impresses with the attention to detail, sales ability, and novelty of her creation. Her product has global potential, and touches on a number of the essentials: good food, clever brand and opportunity.

I see so many young entrepreneurs [under 30s] who are fearless in their entrepreneurial pursuits. In fact, I believe we've entered an era of Individual Capitalism where the majority of society consider themselves to be working for themselves or that’s the situation they are driving towards. The unit of business has shifted to become the individual rather than the company. The costs of setting oneself up in business are so low these days, and the internet enables a small business to look much bigger.

, the UK's National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (tagline: 'Making Innovation Flourish'), released some recently on "the vital 6%". Fifty four percent of all new jobs are created by the vital 6% of fast-growing small to medium size enterprises (SME's). Kirsty's business has the profile of becoming part of that 6% that will help to drive the recovery. With a potential deal with Tesco, it's not a lifestyle business!

Kirsty is Exhibit A for what it takes to secure funding: first you have to seduce an investor with the power of your vision. They have to be drawn into your project, and key to that is to exude confidence but not have a sense of entitlement which is nauseating. But as soon as you have the investor pulled in, and you could see her drawing in the Dragons, the good investor turns into a master of due diligence. He or she wants to understand how the entrepreneur executes. So the lesson is "seduction followed fast by explaining the execution plan".

This is what made the pitch superb. Kirsty had bottomed out distribution with conversations with Tesco; she had checked whether she could get the product made in mass quantities. She had thought through the ingredients extremely well. Overall, she came across as General Manager, not just airy fairy entrepreneur.

Many people wonder whether entrepreneurs are born or made. I'd say that Kirsty has something inate. She choose the name of her firm 'because it sounded like it had been around for a while'. Many people with a business school degree will hire big agencies to deliver a selection of potential brands, but she nailed it in a straightforward fashion.

She also handled the wealth of offers she received with aplomb. A beginner's mistake I often see is to go for the most money on offer, but she had the confidence to say that she didn't want to give away 40% of her company at this stage. That speaks volumes of her steely determination to build something of real value. She knows that if she keeps going, then she'll have other offers. At the same time, she was poignantly touched by the praise of the Dragons for what she had accomplished.

It's worth noting Kirsty's personal circumstances. She's a single mum. I tell all of my girlfriends not to worry about crashing through someone else’s glass ceiling, but to focus on building their own cathedrals. Astonishingly, Kirsty was holding down 2 and a half jobs, raising a boy, and setting up a business on her own.

Although an entrepreneur works longer and harder than a salaried employee, at least they tend to set their own schedules, and manage their days more than if you work in someone else's firm. Better to set the rules of engagement than live by someone else's.

Kirsty really is a model for the new Britain which is becoming more entrepreneurial. She doesn't see barriers, but is thinking globally without big marketing speak - just getting on with it, nailing the right partnerships, creating a great product, and selecting people carefully who can help her on her journey.

I can't wait to taste her frozen dessert!

Last updated: 16 July 2010

These are the views of Julie Meyer, not those of the Â鶹Éç

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