2022 sees the return of the first full Dragons Den event for two years. The children from Mere School visited Hillbrush and had a tour of the factory headed by Gavin Brown, Head of Manufacturing and Warehouse, where they learned about our manufacturing processes and the stages a brush goes through before it is sent out to the customer.
After the tour, the children were given a short talk by Phil Norris, Quality and Product Manager, and shown various materials and finished brushes in our Presentation Room, followed by a Q&A session before the children left to return to school to begin work on their own ideas and presentations.
The week after the factory tour Phil Norris visited Mere School to act as the “Dragon” and listen to the pitches the children had put together. Altogether there were eight pitches ranging from pet grooming brushes to domestic cleaning and car care. As in previous years, the children had clearly put a lot of time and effort into their presentations – two of which were done using PowerPoint with sound effects.
With their ideas, the children had come up with what materials could be used, and again, as with previous years, the emphasis was on recycled and sustainable materials. Included in the pitches were expected costs and selling prices for their products. All of the ideas were practical and the sort of products you would expect to see around the home.
The winning entry for 2022 was the last pitch of the day, Danny the Sweeping Duck may havebeen inspired by a real Dragons Den presentation from 2006 for Trunki the children’s suitcase. Like Trunki, Danny is aimed at young children and makes cleaning a fun task. Danny is simple, a plastic dunk on wheels with brushes at the front that a child pushes along sweeping rubbish into a dustpan that is designed to look like a pond.
All of the pitches were great, well thought out and presented with confidence by each team. There are no losers in the Hillbrush Dragons Den, and each child was presented with a lanyard with a card saying they had participated, along with this they had a USB stick and water bottle with the Hillbrush 100yr anniversary logo. This was another great event and one Hillbrush is happy supporting within the local community.
