Sarah Robinson joined our Core Membership after setting up an online toy shop, as she wants to protect her customers from cyber crime.
A toy shop has become the East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre’s 200th core member.
Established in 2020, our police-led centre helps protect businesses across the region against cyber crime.
Our Core Membership package is free to all businesses as the centre – one of eight Cyber Resilience Centres (CRCs) now operating across England and Wales – is funded by the Home Office.
Members receive expert guidance and toolkits that are designed to help businesses boost their cyber resilience.
The Lovely Little Toy Shop became the 200th core member after its founder Sarah Robinson attended a NatWest Business webinar, which helped promote the East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre.
As a prize for becoming the centre’s 200th core member, Sarah can choose to have one of our services free of charge.
Sarah said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have won this prize, it really did come as a bolt from the blue!
“I might never have known about the East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre had Amber Launder, my local NatWest Business Growth Enabler, not invited me to attend the Hacking Prevention Masterclass.
“I wanted to sign up for the course because the whole subject of cyber security and hacking is one that I don’t know much about, and I wanted to increase my knowledge and awareness of this area of expertise in order to protect my fledgling business from cyber threats – and I also feel I have a duty to protect my customers and their details too.
“Cyber crime is rife these days and the criminals are getting ever more sophisticated with their tactics – so my advice to other businesses is, if you have experts and a resource like this that you can access and benefit from, then why wouldn’t you use it?”
Detective Inspector Matt Carson, who leads the EMCRC, said he was delighted to welcome The Lovely Little Toy Shop as the centre’s 200th member.
He said: “We are pleased that Sarah from The Lovely Little Toy Shop saw the real value in joining the centre as a free core member and, not only that, became number 200!
"It’s really encouraging that start-up businesses are understanding the importance of keeping their business safe online and more importantly, their customers.
"As online fast becomes the new frontline for criminality we are keen to get the message out that there is somewhere for the businesses of the East Midlands to turn to for consistent up to date guidance to keep their systems secure.
"We are here for all businesses, whatever their size, to help better protect them from the latest threats and we will be back in touch with Sarah to look at one of our cyber service offerings."
The Lovely Little Toy Shop is set to launch online next month. Sarah said she was inspired to launch the business after being inspired by another independent shop.
She said: “My business journey unknowingly began when I went into a wonderful independent toy shop, selling wooden and high-quality toys that you could never find on the High Street, in North Yorkshire a few years ago on a holiday.
“I wanted to spend so much in there, I was spoilt for choice, but once we’d purchased several items, I could not stop thinking about that shop and its ethos.
"I’ve also seen children who have a massive mountain of toys, which is so overwhelming for them; their little brains can’t cope so they end up only playing with a small minority of their favoured pieces in the end.
“So I thought if I could source some lovely little toys from upmarket companies and put them all in one place for customers to see, then people could buy fewer but better-quality items.
"It will mean there’s a much-loved gift for the little one, as well as the benefit of there ultimately being less waste going to landfill and also these products being treasured toys that will last a lifetime.
“Hence, after two years of planning, The Lovely Little Toy Shop (the name came from my now-six-year-old son) is now almost ready to start trading online – and I could not be more excited about this new venture!”