CAKE-BAKING Sasha Perkins, 25, wowed her audience when she pitched her idea for a business before a panel of business leaders.

The Meet-the-Dragons event came about when Sasha, a former North Yorkshire care leaver from Pickering who has always wanted to set up her own business, turned to North Yorkshire County Council for help.

Inspired by her gran, whose pet name was Nula, Sasha, who has a five year old son Alfie, is hoping to run “the ultimate sweet-treats” artisan business called Nula’s Fancies, from a bespoke van travelling around markets and festivals.

Realising there are others like Sasha with entrepreneurial ideas, the county's new Leaving Care Opportunities Team joined forces with the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership to find mentors in the local business community.

The council hopes to encourage other care leavers who are thinking of setting up their own business and is offering a discretionary payment of up to £2,500 per applicant for start-up costs, in consultation with mentors, for ideas that are taken forward.

Sasha said: "I'm so happy to have the support of the dragons with their advice and contacts. The thought of presenting to them was nerve-racking but I prepared myself well."