Only one entrepreneur managed to gain investment from any of the Dragons this week, but another came extremely close. Here are the main pitches to this week’s show:

Cleanpass - http://www.cleanpass.ie/

Key people: Lisa O’ Connell

First into the Dragon’s Den this week was Lisa O’ Connell who brought in her business, Cleanpass, for the health service providers. Lisa explained that the Cleanpass was a training qualification for those working in hospitals and health services, whether they are nurses or cleaners or anyone working in the environment, giving a standards approach to people being adequately trained to combat the spread of diseases such as MRSA and VRE infections, which hospitals and care facilities are prone to spread.

Lisa was looking for €130,000 of an investment and offering 12% equity. The Cleanpass training has been developed over a number of years and Dr Maeve Harburn and nurse Ann Byrne, who both work in the health care service, helped develop the training curriculum but the company does still belong to Lisa O’ Connell.

At present the Cleanpass is the only training course on offer to hospitals and medical care facilities. Although Lisa was reluctant throughout the pitch to provide exact cost of the training, she did indulge in the fact that 300 people have so far done the training and with 10 people per class, she estimated from that, her projected turnover this year would be €350,000.

Bobby introduces himself and asked is the course recognised by the HSE (Health Service Executive), and after trying to side step the question and explaining that this is what her objective is, she admits that the HSE is looking for a Fetac qualification, with that Bobby declares himself out.

Sarah then introduces herself and asks if someone like herself went into a hospital job without any previous experience would she not be given some in house training to explain the job in some form, Lisa responded that there wouldn’t necessarily be a standard approach to induction throughout every facility, Sarah felt that she needed to get accredited more for Cleanpass to have more of an impact and declared herself out.

Gavin enquired more about the issue regarding cost of a training session and Lisa again, continued to try and explain that it was sensitive commercial information and she couldn’t divulge it at present, Gavin seemed to get frustrated at this point and was not finding a reason why Lisa needed to be so secretive and declared himself out. Niall also agrees with Gavin’s point about the unnecessary secrecy and declared himself out.

Sean comes in and begins to discuss with Lisa about a possible proposition, Lisa rose her 12% equity to a possible 20%, Sean makes an offer of the full €130,000 but now looking for 35%, Lisa retaliates with the equity going down to 30% but with a kick back clause where in three years time, if the company has reached their estimated turnover that Sean would have 20% of the business. Sean is not happy with this and agrees to go down to the 30% but would not agree to any kickback clause, Lisa declined the offer. Sean stated that he had a lot of contacts in the HSE and is very influential with training and would be a great asset to her and finally declares himself out.

Cordelia

Key people: Tim Rowe

Next into the Dragon’s Den was Tim Rowe with his product ‘Cordelia’. Tim Rowe came up with the unique device called Cordelia in which a mechanism is attached to the strings of the guitar making it so the player doesn’t have to learn the exact cords and instead only having to press down on a button, in my opinion taking away the whole beauty and art of guitar playing as how else can you come up with new and unique sounds to impress the world (obviously I’m a bit a of music lover).

While at the moment Tim only was able to show a rough prototype that did have the essence of working, he projected that the actual product would be ready in a couple of months and it would cost him €30 to make and would sell them on for €100. The selling point of the product was that it can make anyone into a guitar player and it also takes the hard work out of playing the guitar as it no longer hurts the tips of your fingers as your learning.

Niall immediately declares himself out as he feels there would be no return for his investment. Sean comments that he feels that €100 is quite expensive, Tim explains that if you take into consideration the amount of money you pay on lessons for the guitar, €100 isn’t alot and your guaranteed to be able to play songs afterwards, Sean made the point that you do learn a skill with the lessons where you don’t with Cordelia and declared himself out.

Bobby enquired about the patent, Tim explained that for almost 100 years people have been trying to come up with this device and have failed. Bobby understood but continued to declare himself out as he felt there wasn’t a huge market for it.

Gavin wishes Tim good luck but states himself out and Sarah follows declaring herself out too. No Investment for Tim. A comment was made by the dragons that the device would do very well within a special needs environment and I have to agree, otherwise people are false musicians!

Sentinel Fuel Products – http://www.sentinelfuelproducts.com/

Key people: Kurt Reinhardt, Carl Denby

Kurt Reinhardt and Carl Denby came into the Den next with their business, Sentinel Fuel Products. They were looking for €100,000 and offering just 5% of their business. They stated that since 2003, the Garda reported that there has been a rise of 264% of fuel theft in Ireland. They came up with this device as one of them was a victim of fuel theft themselves and felt that it was ironic as he was employed in the security sector.

They explained that their device comes in several options, the standard alerts the customer to when their oil is being stolen via by text alert, with each upgrade the variations range from the simple text alert to the house alarm going off and then right up to the Gardai being alerted that oil is being stolen. The device also monitors when you need an oil fill or if there is a possible oil leak. There was confusion surrounding the patent as initially it was stated that it was patented and then it later was disclosed that it was patent pending, this fueled Gavin and he accused the two men of misleading the Dragon’s, but they denied and stated it a mistake on their part. Gavin then declared himself out.

Niall takes a further look at the product and enquired about the possibility of a down turn in the market as Gas is a huge competitor for the oil trade. It was explained that people in rural areas continue to use Kerosene and there continues to be a good market. They valued the company at 2 million euro. Bobby goes through what happens when oil is running low or a possible leak and enquires about whether he actually wanted an alarm going off and how many texts he would receive.

Sarah enquires about the warranty and safety approvals of the product and the response is that it has yet to go through the approvals. Gavin comes in and states that there is a ‘leak’ in their credibility as they initially stated a worldwide patent but it actually is patent pending and declared himself out. Niall declares himself out even though they haven’t even gone through the finances yet. Bobby declares himself out and Sarah follows soon after stating she’s not convinced. Sean comes in at the end saying that he knows of other products in the marketplace that offer something similar and declares himself out.

Sourcing product design – http://sourcingproductdesign.com/

Key people: Darren Louet-Feisser

The last entrepreneur into the Dragon’s Den this evening was Darren Louet-Feisser who presents his company ‘Sourcing product design’. He already has an existing company ‘Louet design‘, which is a year and a half old and has already dealt with a number of companies and Darren hopes to take it to the next level and go further than just offering product design and engineering, he hopes to manufacture it and distribute the products.

Darren has a partner in the business who is an engineer who would continue to be a partner in the new company. They also have a partnership with a company in China but they have no equity in the company. Gavin states that he feels he’s all over the place with his ideas and declares himself out. Sarah then states that she feels she would have little to contribute to this company and declares herself out.

An enquiry came in about projected profits for the next 12 months and Darren explained that he projected a €200,000 net profit. Bobby enquired about whether there are any ‘Skeletons’ in the closet of ‘Louet Designs’, and Darren assured him there were none. Sean comes in and makes an offer of half the investment… but for 15%. Niall and Bobby then come in on the bidding and make a suggestion that the three of them, Niall, Bobby and Sean all come in on the investment and each of them receiving 15% of the business, meaning that Darren has to give 45% of his business away, three times the amount initially on offer. Darren comments that he would be happier to leave it at 35% of the equity but is happy that he has three Dragons in his corner and accepts the offer of three dragons giving him €75,000 and in return giving 15% to each of the three dragons of his business.