Meeting the Dragons….Ronan and Conor Mc Garvey of Donegal Pens pictured in the den with the five dragons from the RTE Dragon’s Den series. From left, Peter Casey, Ramona Nicholas, Gavin Duffy, Barry O Sullivan and Sean O Sullivan.
Donegal Pens brothers Ronan and Conor Mc Garvey from Loughanure walked out of Junior Dragon’s Den tonight with the most cash of the junior series that was screened on RTE1.
The boys received a bursary of €2,000 and also an order for $2,000 worth of pens!
Three Donegal students, the Mc Garvey boys and Letterkenny lad Niall Mc Closkey of The Easy Grower, were featured in the final show of the current Dragon’s Den series where they showcased their businesses to dragons Gavin Duffy, Barry O’Sullivan, Ramona Nicholas, Sean O’Sullivan and Peter Casey.
Filming for the junior series took place in Dublin in January and the boys were under pressure to keep secret the outcome of the show after signing a confidentially agreement with the production company.
The boys secured a place on the TV programme after having competed in the regional finals in Sligo and later the national finals in Dublin where the final twenty participants in the TV show were selected.
More than 360 entries were received from around the country featuring over 800 secondary school students and the Donegal boys were among the twenty junior enterprises selected.
The junior entrepreneurs had a chance of securing a €2,000 bursary from one of the dragons, while the other dragons could also support them in various ways.
Ten of the twenty enterprises featured over the two nights secured the €2,000 bursary from various dragons, while some emerged with even more cash in their pockets when other dragons supported their ideas and products.
The Mc Garvey brothers emerged with €4,000 from the Den, the biggest amount of money overall from the two show – a €2,000 bursary from dragon Ramona Nicholas, while Peter Casey also placed a €2,000 order with them for their pens. Ramona has also taken the boy’s pens on board in her Cara Home stores and pharmacies in the Northwest, and continues to offer them support in all aspects of the business.
While in the Den the Mc Garvey boys answered questions from most of the dragons, all of whom were complimentary of their product.
Veteran Dragon Gavin Duffy described the sample pen the boys presented him with as amazing: “Here in the Den I use one of the world’s leading brand of pens. Your pen beside it feels, looks and would sell so much better,” he said.
Sean O’Sullivan also complimented the boy’s new pen design that doubles as a pen and a stylus saying “I love these pens especially with the stylus built in. Iíve tried it on my own iPhone and it works great. It’s a very distinctive brand and distinctive pen. People will buy this not just in Ireland, they’ll buy it around the world,” he said.
Ramona Nicholas described the boys as “a complete and utter inspiration” before confirming that she was giving them the €2,000 bursary. Not only have you done your county proud but you have done Ireland proud and well done to you both,” she said.
Derry native Peter Casey, who placed a €2,000 order with the boys, complimented their new Sierra stylus pen and said that heíd certainly pay the €34.95 selling price for it.
Sean O’Sullivan, who quizzed the boys on their figures and projections, also complimented the boys, saying he likes what they’re doing.
Speaking after the show, the boys expressed their delight at the outcome. It was a hard secret to keep this past few months. We had a great time filming and we are very pleased that we came out of it so well. We were hoping to get the bursary but Peter’s order was a real surprise and bonus,” said Ronan.
The boys have been very complimentary of Ramona Nicholas for her ongoing support and advice.
“Ramona gave us the €2,000 bursary but it hasn’t stopped there. She has taken our pens into her pharmacies and home stores and has given us lots of business advice. In fact this week her company’s graphic designer has just designed a new logo for us as well as designing our new business card and other promotional items. She has been really great and we were really lucky to get her support,” said Conor.
The Mc Garvey brothers are continuing to build their business and now have their pens stocked in over twenty shops in Ireland and three in Germany. They have also recently signed up with a distributor in German who will market and distribute their pens there to the retail sector. Their website www.donegalpens.com is also keeping busy with orders coming in from all over the world.
Ronan, 16, and Conor, 13, are pupils at the Rosses Community School in Dungloe.
Niall Mc Closkey also spoke well in the Den about his Easy Grower invention and was highly complimented about his product. He didn’t however secure a bursary in the den but was promised business support from some of the dragons, while Ramona pledged to buy one of his Easy Growers, details of which are on his website www.theeasygrower.ie