DOG holidays entrepreneur owner Lisa Suswain met TV Dragon Theo Paphitis after winning the #SBS small business initiative.

Small Business Sunday (shortened to #SBS) takes place each Sunday between 5pm and 7.30pm, with business owners asked to describe their business in one tweet including the hash tag #SBS.

Mr Paphitis reviews and chooses six businesses, which he then re-tweets the following day at 8pm.

Lisa’s tweet about her business Wagging Tails, a Damerham-based dog boarding company which places dogs in family homes instead of kennels, was re-tweeted to Theo’s 400,000 followers and she received an invite to the annual #SBS event.

As a result of the win Wagging Tails received hundreds of new followers and traffic to the company website tripled within hours of Mr Paphitis’s tweet.

The award was one of many highs in an exciting year for Wagging Tails.

The company also won The 2013 Franchise Marketing Award for Best Franchise Marketing Support in March and franchisee Teresa Bowers won Franchisee of the Year at the 2013 EWIF (Encouraging Women into Franchising) Awards in May.

The company’s network turnover increased by 69 per cent year on year as the company’s franchise network expanded by 50 per cent during 2013.

The company now operates nine franchised branches across England and Wales.

Mrs Suswain said: “We already have dogs booked in for holidays as far in advance as December 2015 and there is a huge demand for more branches across the UK.

“It really is a fantastic way to make a living working from home.”