A former mechanical engineer is pursuing her dream of teaching children art thanks to funding from the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme.
Ejiroghene Lane, 37, has launched the first Welsh franchise of Art-K, an art class and workshops provider for both children and adults, in Barry.
Ejiro, who has drawn and painted from a young age, was warned she would find it difficult to make a living from pursuing her passion and so moved from her native country Nigeria to Cardiff to study mechanical engineering at Cardiff University.
It was at the university where she met her now-husband, who is Welsh, and eventually decided to settle in Wales, beginning a career in engineering.
However, when the UK went into lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic, Ejiro began taking painting commissions and realised she wanted to build a livelihood from art after all.
With a background of working with children through NGOs in her teenage years, and having pivoted her career to Montessori teaching, Ejiro began researching classes she could teach.
She realised there was an absence of art class providers in the Vale of Glamorgan and, through her research, discovered Art-K, a franchise founded by Kathryn Harper in 2000, with over 40 branches across England.
Ejiro said:
“I loved the ethos of Art-K, it has its own curriculum but at its heart is the concept that you are guided by the student: you equip them so they can discover things for themselves, which helps build their confidence. In any one group you can be studying one particular principle or artist, but each student will be working individually on different aspects and skills.”
Ejiro decided to open a franchise in Barry, with a studio located within a two-mile radius of around 20 schools.
Ejiro accessed a £20,300 Start Up Loan via Business in Focus, allowing her to open the doors to Art-K Barry in 2023.
The loan helped her pay for the lease for the studio, the entire studio fit-out, the Art-K franchise fee, as well as all the art equipment required, ensuring students don’t need to purchase anything beyond booking a class.
The British Business Bank Start Up Loans programme provides government backed loans of up to £25,000 per individual, up to a maximum of £100,000 per business, facilitated through delivery partners in Wales like Business in Focus based in Bridgend. In addition to finance, successful applicants receive free mentoring, access to resources and advice.
Ejiro said:
“The loan was a total lifeline in getting Art-K Barry set up and the help I received from my mentor at Business in Focus was invaluable. Overall, the process of applying and drawing down the loan gave me a real sense that there was a belief I could succeed with this business.”
Ejiro now leads classes of seven children at a time, allowing her to give each child a tailored approach to learning, building fundamental principles of art and teaching art skills at a foundational level.
As well as classes of 6-16 year olds and GCSE classes, Ejiro teaches adult classes in the evening. She hopes to expand the class offering to include sessions for home-schooled children and daytime adult classes.
Eventually, she hopes to open further Art-K franchises across Wales:
“There’s a real gap for this sort of provision in Wales. A lot of the people who attend my classes say they’ve been looking for classes like this for a long time, and they travel relatively far distances to come to class. My hope is that this is the start of something far greater in Wales, because everyone deserves to have access to art and art teaching.”
Jessica Phillips-Harris, Senior Manager for Wales at the British Business Bank, said:
“We’re so pleased to be able to support businesswomen like Ejiroghene to follow their dreams and pursue a career they love.
“The British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans scheme exists for entrepreneurs who are looking to improve the world they live in and Art-K Barry is a fantastic example of that: providing art education to children and adults and helping build their self-esteem in the process. We wish Ejiroghene all the best with her venture.”
