Published: Thursday, 18th June, 2009 7:30am

Dragon has got the Buggyboot bug

by Annabel Williams

Comments (0) | Print | Email

TWO mumpreneurs have spoken about what it was like entering the Dragons' Den.

Dragon Deborah Meaden invested £80,000 in Carolyn Jarvis and Charlotte Evans" idea, the Buggyboot Plus, when the pair appeared on the BBC"s Dragons" Den programme last August, and the trio were at the Reading branch of Mothercare in Vastern Road on Tuesday to see the product on the shelves for the first time.

The Buggyboot Plus fits on the back of lightweight buggies and pushchairs and provides a showerproof storage bag, a secure resting place for shopping baskets and a stand-on step for older siblings.

Charlotte, who along with Carolyn lives in Windsor, said: 'We were very, very scared before going into the Den, we weren"t sure what to expect.

'Since then, the launch has come around quite quickly because we"ve had so much to do running the business.'

The pair have already had interest in Buggyboot Plus from Spain, Germany, Japan and America.

Millionaire Ms Meaden made her fortune by working her way up to managing director at her family"s holiday park and developed the business into a chain of five parks.

Ms Meaden said: 'I invested in this because it was a good combination. Charlotte and Carolyn are very impressive people and their idea is very good.

'I"ve had to worry about the health and safety of the 5,000 children staying across all my holiday parks and I"ve seen parents struggling with loads on their buggies, I"ve seen them fall backwards.

'I don"t have children myself but I got it, I got what this product is for straight away and invested where the other dragons didn"t, even though they all have children.'