Magic Whiteboard and other ‘Guest Speakers’ talk to 1,400 Students at SAVILES Hall in Leeds

Magic Whiteboard, is one of the Den’s overnight success stories. As we all know countless would business owners have seen their ideas mocked, scorned and teased whilst other ‘promising successful’ pitches have fallen into insignificance, the Westwood’s turned £100,000 of Dragon investment into a 50% profit margin in under 2 years.

Their simple business idea allows you to create a portable whiteboard from a roll, anywhere, in seconds (forget flipcharts). The sheets of statically charged polypropylene film stick to any hard, flat surface without the need for tape or glue, ready to be written on then easily wiped clean.

Neil explains “Having worked for NHS as a trainer I grew tired of dragging whiteboards up and down the stairs all day…it was driving me mad,” And then along came a solution the Magic Whiteboard which as he says. “There was nothing like it in the market and so I was just addressing a problem I had.”

Neil researched a supplier which he found in Europe of all places and using the family savings to buy the rolls the journey began.

An inspiring pitch on Dragons’ Den in 2008 saw the Westwoods’ enterprise finally take-off. After much enthusiasm from the Dragons themselves, Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis invested a total of £100,000 for a 40% stake in the business.

Thanks to Dragons’ Den, Magic Whiteboard has enjoyed invaluable global exposure.

Neil projects his turnover to hit £5m in 2 years and admits there is an exit strategy, although not just yet. But having been bitten by the business bug a sale would only be the catalyst to start over again…and today he talks to 1400 students at SAVILES Hall in Leeds about taking those first steps and trying something no matter how small.