Dragons said no to Athenry's Greenieland

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN THE founders of Athenry company Greenieland Interactive Ltd featured on RTÉ's Dragon's Den show this week but failed to secure an offer of investment. Morag Kelly and Michael Duggan, who started the company with the book Gordon Goes to Greenieland in 2010, are hoping to develop a range of engaging, fun and educational children's nature-centred products around the character Greenie.[private] The Co Galway entrepreneurs did part of their pitch for the children's book and horticultural range of products using a prototype puppet of Greenie. They were looking for one of the dragons to offer an investment of €70,000 for a 25 per cent stake in the company. While some of the panel did appear impressed, none of them were confident enough to buy in to the Greenieland brand. The business duo said that while they were disappointed not to have attracted outside investment, they valued the panel's input and advice. 'The dragons were welcoming and gracious, as well as being genuinely interested in our proposal. Although disappointed, we really value the expert advice we received on the day and have fed this into our most recent business planning,' said Michael, creative development and operations manager. Morag Kelly, two times Bloom medal winner and author/illustrator of Gordon Goes to Greenieland, said, 'I've always been passionate about nature, in particular the issue of sustainability and growing your own produce. We are very excited to be developing products that are inspiring, fun and educational, taking a holistic approach towards connecting children with nature.'[/private]