
My little girl’s school assembly inspired me to get my business started
(3) What prompted you to take part in VOOM this year? After we won the “British Invention of Year 2016” at the Gadget Show Live, lots of visitors came and tried eFOLDi, some of which encouraged us to apply for VOOM or Dragons’ Den. At this stage of our business, we believed it was the best time to enter the Virgin Media Business VOOM 2016 competition. (4) How did you find the Pitchathon, and what did you do to prepare? I was really excited to be part of the Guinness World Record! I was lucky in the sense that for my business I have a physical product to bring and show to the judges. It’s also a product that I have been working on, day in and day out, over the last couple of years, so I had to decide what to highlight and what to remove so that I would not run over the three-minute time limit.Coffee doesn’t just energise the sleep deprived – the waste is fuelling buildings
(5) Prior to that, what was your experience of pitching? It’s not the same sort of pitching, but I think life is full of pitches, big and small.Read more from VOOM 2016:
- Oomph should be used with caution, says SB.TV founder Jamal Edwards
- 29-hour pitching frenzy results in Guinness World Record for Virgin Media Business
- What do you get when you mix a supermodel, underwear expert and a YouTuber? Richard Branson recruits
Building a nationwide community of live event fans without ripping them off
(9) You’re going to pitch to Richard Branson – what will you do to ensure you impress him and the other judges to win? Just be myself really and show them how eFOLDi can help people. I also think it’s important to tell them the journey we’ve been through to get where we are today. (10) Should you be victorious, what’s the big ambition for the company over the next year and then five years? As sales become stable with sufficient funding, SunTech will continue to make improvements to eFOLDi, especially around weight reduction and the integration of IoT (Internet of Things) technology. At the same time, SunTech will also invest in R&D of other innovatively designed products for UK customers, with the intention to improve convenience, efficiency, enjoyment and the quality of people’s lives. In five years’ time, eFOLDi will be a well-known brand that stands out from the crowd for its value and the difference it can make to people’s lives. During the same period of time, SunTech would be taking social responsibility, creating job opportunities for disabled people, and aim to get more and more involved in charities dedicated for people in need: children, the elderly, people with disabilities and beyond! By Zen Terrelonge From 3,000 entrants, these are the six SMEs chosen to pitch to Richard Branson at the £1m VOOM 2016 finale.Share this story