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More on KentOnline
A pair of entrepreneurs are celebrating their first day of booming business after appearing on the BBC show Dragons’ Den.
Cousins Lisa Marshall and Shelene Mitchell, who run Blooming High Ltd from Blue Town, tried to secure a £50,000 investment from the dragons for their revolutionary plant container.
And even though none of the five tycoons invested, Lisa and Shelene, who have put £55,000 of their own money into the project, walked away with invaluable advice and say the phones haven’t stopped ringing since the show was aired at 9pm on Monday.
Blooming High is a plant container which can be used individually or stacked to create a tower effect.
It comes with a unique watering tube and a hook and eye type fixture to secure the container to a wall or fence.
Mum-of-two Shelene, who lives in Queenborough, came up with the idea and built one at home as a DIY project.
When Lisa saw it and commented that it had potential to be sold, they set about launching their business.
In 2004 they were granted a patent and they applied to go on Dragons’ Den in 2008.
They didn’t hear back from the producers of the show until earlier this year and they eventually went to film the episode on June 9.
Lisa, from Eastchurch, said they went on the show for two reasons – they were hoping to get the money but also for advice about how to market the product.
Before appearing on the show they had been selling the product through catalogues and garden centres, but now they are hoping to get into the big DIY stores.
Since filming the show, Shelene, 38, has designed and launched a website and they have been taking orders via email.
Lisa, 42, said: “It was really nerve racking.
“Theo couldn’t get to grips with how we got the patent and they were having a laugh over the tubes.
“There was quite a bit of banter going on but they were very nice to us.
“Deborah [Meaden] said there’s a lot of people that go on the show and they say don’t bother but she said to us give yourselves a huge pat on the back because you really have got a good product and she wished us all the best.
“The response has been phenomenal – the phone hasn’t stopped and emails started coming in as soon as the programme went out.”
