The Dragons’ Den finale saw two Welsh best friends showcase their children’s sunscreen applicator business in the Den. Laura Waters and Kelli Aspland, who are from Cwmbran, are the co-owners of Solar Buddies and were looking for £80,000 for a 10% share in their business.
Upon being asked about their individual roles, it's safe to say that Laura gave one of the Welshest responses the Dragons have ever heard. “I love doing the numbers, they’re lovely,” Laura said - and Deborah Meaden was particularly impressed.
After Kelli then described her own role in the business, the Dragons shared their thoughts on Solar Buddies and made a decision on whether they’d be investing. For the latest TV and showbiz news sign up to our newsletter here.
First up was an enthusiastic Sara Davies, who told the pair: “It works really well,” after applying the Solar Buddies applicator to herself. She wouldn’t be the only Dragon interested in the product, either.
Peter Jones called it, “really good, very clever and very neat”. He did, however, recommend that Laura and Kelli should better understand their own USP. “We had no business background. We had no patent expertise and we had to do everything ourselves at the very beginning,” Laura told him.
Laura and Kelli then described how TikTok allowed the company to improve its sales last year. “TikTok loves businesses like this where you solve a problem,” Steven Bartlett explained.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about Solar Buddies, though. Touker Suleyman stated that he was fearful of the pair’s sales relationship with Amazon. After stressing his belief that “the business has limitations for growth”, he became the first Dragon to declare that he was out.
“I completely disagree with Touker, I think this could be a huge business,” Deborah interjected. She described how she thought that the business had only “scratched the surface” of what it could achieve and subsequently offered Laura and Kelli all of the money for 20% of the business.
Sara said that she felt that she had a “distinct advantage” over the other Dragons before making the same offer as Deborah. While Steven ultimately declared that he was out, Peter also offered all of the money for a 20% share.
After having a chat, Laura and Kelli asked the three Dragons whether they’d be up for collaborating. Sara told them that she didn’t think they needed all three Dragons and said she’d prefer to work with them alone.
Laura and Kelli chose to go with Peter and Deborah, who agreed to work together on Solar Buddies. Dragons’ Den is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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