After getting tired of the mess that ‘no-touch’ policies in schools would leave children applying suncream in, two mothers Kelli Aspland, 44, and Laura Waters, 40, came up with a product that was to turn over £1.2million to date.
Describing the journey as a “rollercoaster ride”, Express.co.uk spoke to Ms Aspland to find out about Solar Buddies, the first of its kind child-friendly sunscreen applicator, as well as their recent experience securing an £80,000 investment deal on Dragons’ Den.
Ms Aspland said the pair, both from Cwmbran, South Wales, first had their idea in 2011 whilst discussing issues involving how they could help children apply sunscreen safely and effectively whilst not in their care.
Ms Aspland told Express.co.uk: “There was nothing out there for the kids to be able to make this job easy and they always run away from you.
“It was just a bit of a moment where we thought, let’s have a little Google and see if there’s anything about and there wasn’t. So we thought, well, let’s have a little go at doing it ourselves.”
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After ripping a few bottles apart to see how the different mechanisms worked, Ms Aspland said the project “started snowballing”. The pair secured a £5,000 investment from a friend and kicked off the design phase.
She said: “We contacted Cardiff Met University and we started working with their students and their product design department, and they helped us put prototypes together. The students were ace.”
In 2015, the product was finally launched as an easy-to-use, refillable applicator that allows children to roll on any sunscreen of their choice. They then secured their first retailer via a tweet, and have now turned over £1.2million to date.
Ms Aspland said: “Laura tweeted Laura Tennison [founder of Jojo Maman Bebe] and basically said we’re a Welsh business as well, would you like to take a look at our product?
“She actually did tweet back and say, ‘This is our buyer. Go speak to them.’ And they became the first retailer to take us on board in 2016.”
While the COVID-19 lockdowns spelt a bit of difficulty for the business, the pace soon picked up again after social media juggernaut TikTok emerged and influencers caught wind of the product.
Ms Aspland said: “[TikTok] literally pushed out, it literally skyrocketed us over into the US. And we’re still riding that wave right now.”
It was only after the TikTok success that Ms Aspland and Ms Waters decided to take their product to Dragons’ Den.
Ms Aspland said: “We saw how it could be popular and we were only just touching the tip of the iceberg. We just thought, if we’re going to do this, let’s just have a blast at doing this on a bigger level and see what that can bring.
“It sort of changed it for us to be able to go [on Dragons’ Den] but it was the scariest moment ever.”
Solar Buddies secured an £80,000 investment from Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones for a 20 percent stake.
Ms Aspland said: “The Dragons have been great. All their teams have been so hands-on and we’re now in Boots online and in 40 airports. We’ve got a couple of other retail opportunities that are on the cards as well.
“We’ve got a lot of things happening and a lot of doors opening and hopefully it’s going places. We’ve dreamed for this to happen and it’s finally actually doing it.
“It’s just been such a rollercoaster ride. One minute you could literally be riding on a high from everything that you see coming in and the new opportunities that are there. And then on the flip side, you just feel the weight of it all because there are so many hats you’re wearing and so much you’re juggling.
“Our staff have gone from just two of us to 10 of us and we’re still learning new things every single day.
“Financially things are obviously turning around a lot for us and hopefully it changes a lot of things. But we’ve worked our butts off to get to where we are.”
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