A shopping trip which ended in a flat mobile phone battery has led two teenage entrepreneurs to invent a unique product that is selling like hotcakes.
Friends Jordan McIlwaine, 16, and Mark Borland, 15, saw the light when Jordan was he left stuck with no way to phone his parents.
For a month Jordan and Mark worked on ways of charging their phones without having to use electricity.
They then sent their design to a manufacturer in China who helped make their dream come through.
And now they have come up with a solar-powered phone charger which are selling by the truckload.
Jordan and Mark, who are transition year pupils at Loreto Community School in Milford, supplied shops across Donegal which sold out really quickly.
Now they have plans to expand their empire, Key Solar Solutions, across the country.
“We have worked really hard on this but it really did come as a result of not being able to make a phonecall when we needed to.
“We sat down and thought that there must be some way of doing it. We eventually got it right and we sent our plans to China where a company there came up with the finished product,” said Jordan
And the pair are delighted that the chargers have sold out with orders for many more already placed with their Chinese manufacturer.
“We can’t believe how well they are selling and people really seem to be latching onto the idea.
“What we really like is that the product is environmentally friendly and that means a lot to us because we do care about the environment,” said Jordan.
The young businessmen are now planning to take part in school business competitions to highlight their invention.