Child entrepreneur cooking up sweet taste of success from her mum's kitchen in Leeds

Avaiyia Cottle is known as the Kookie Kid and bakes, designs and decorates cookies which she sells via her social media channels. She hopes that one day when she goes to the supermarket she will see her own products on the shelves.

She also makes her own vegan sauces and was featured on Indie Business Live last Thursday, a festival to celebrate independent businesses which was established by business and consumer expert Kate Hardcastle MBE.

With a thousand followers already on her facebook page and more than 3,600 followers on instagram, Avaiyia, of Cross Green, is hoping that her mother can acquire a unit so she can expand her baking business beyond the kitchen at home.

Her mother Renee Cottle runs the business Love Storm Cake Company which focuses on wedding cakes and Avaiyia's 15-year-old sister, Leilani, has Love Storm Cupcakes.

She said: "I started my own a few years ago and the girls have grown up around confectionery and creativity. At 13 I gave Leilani the cupcake arm of the business because I was focusing on wedding work but there was still a demand for it.

"Avaiyia has a business doing vegan sauces and she started doing that when she was 10 but seeing me and Leilani she thought 'what can I do that is something like that?' She started doing cake pops and we started doing cookies for fun but they looked really good so she has been teaching herself and learning as she goes along."

Avaiyia and Leilani are home-schooled but during term time she is only allowed to take on two orders per week so it doesn't affect education, and also so it doesn't become a chore and they stop enjoying doing it.

Most of Avaiyia's orders come via direct messages on instagram and are for events such as baby showers and first birthday parties but she has also just started a mail order so her products can be posted out of Leeds.

Renee, says she is also trying to install a work and business ethic in her daughters so they are independent and successful when they are older.

She said: "With my parenting I give them as much space as possible to make decisions. If they tell me what they want to do, I encourage them to be self-reliant with regards finances and into their adult life. I pay for things now but I want them to build their own finances.

"Avaiyia ultimately, would like to see her products on the shelves in the supermarket. It is completely doable, people do it all the time and she definitely has an aspiration for that. We have a couple of ovens at home and take it in turns. It can get crazy so we are looking for a unit because it is difficult to take it to the next level when you are working at home."

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Thank you

Laura Collins