Dragons' Den trio facing global future
A Warwickshire-based company which was rejected as an investment opportunity on Dragons’ Den is preparing to launch an expansion plan across Europe. Mask-arade, which specialises in producing personalised masks and faces of celebrities, has told Insider that it “definitely sees the brand going global in the next five years”.
The company, which first appeared on the BBC show in August 2009, has just finished filming a follow-up programme, Dragons’ Den: Where Are They Now?
Over the last year, the company says it has begun supplying its products across the world – throughout Europe and in America.
Last year, the company posted a turnover of £157,000, and aims to double that by its year end in 2011.
Founders Ray Duffy, Dean Walton and Chris O’Nyan came up with the idea of creating personalised masks and disguises of celebrity faces “in the pub”.
Duffy said: “We came up with the idea years ago, and began by operating out of a garage. We really went on Dragons’ Den to boost our profile – we weren’t too surprised when we didn’t get an investment.”
The trio had asked for £50,000 of funding for their 17-month old business.
“Our main aim was to get exposure, and bring our product to the public consciousness,” said Duffy. “It definitely did that, and orders have increased by about 400 per cent since we appeared on the show.”
The company makes personlised masks for stag and hen parties, and also supplies masks with celebrities’ faces.
“When we went into the den, we wore masks of the four Dragons,” said Duffy. “We wanted to stand out. We also send off the masks of celebrities to them, and see who will send us a signed copy back.”
So far, the group has collected signatures from Brian Blessed, George Bush, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Prime Minister David Cameron.
Duffy said that he “definitely sees the company going global” in the next five years.
“We really want to make the company an even bigger success in the UK first and foremost,” he explained. “But then, we’d definitely like to expand overseas. We’re interested in going over to Scandinavia, and we’re keeping an eye out for a producer in Spain. Ultimately, we want a base in Australia and America. We want to take the company global.”
