I started a sun cream side hustle with my best mum friend – we’ve made £1.3 million and have two Dragon’s Den investors
A PAIR of mums have revealed how they turned their friendship into a seven-figure business.
Laura Waters and Kelli Aspland’s sun cream applicator – named Solar Buddies – turned out to be a million pound invention.
The mums even managed to triple the business’ net assets between 2021 and 2022, climbing from £97,702 to £304,930, Companies House documents show.
But it all started when their daughter and son were in nursery school together back in 2014.
“My daughter and Kelli’s son fell in love whilst they were at nursery,” Laura joked.
“Now we spend five days a week together.”
They came up with the refillable child-friendly sunscreen applicator after finding their little ones were struggling to apply it at school.
Due to “no touch policies”, teachers aren’t allowed to help with this.
The shape of the Solar Buddies bottles are chunky so it is easier for little hands to grip.
Each one is designed with a “sponge and rollerball partnership” for kids to easily glide sun cream over themselves without wasting loads of product or making a mess.
“Since our launch in 2015, we have sold over 200,000 units and had a turnover of £1.3 million,” Kelli shared on BBC’s Dragon’s Den.
The pair, from Cwmbran in Wales, appeared on the entrepreneurial show to secure £80,000 investment to scale Solar Buddies further.
“I’m so proud of the fact we did a few things right,” Laura said.
“I mean, we had no business background.
“We definitely had no patent expertise.
“We had to do everything ourselves at the very beginning.”
What is Solar Buddies?
Laura Waters and Kelli Aspland set up Solar Buddies in 2015 after finding their kids struggled to apply sun cream straight from the bottle...
“Solar Buddies is the world’s first refillable child-friendly sunscreen applicator, purposefully crafted for children’s use,” a blurb on the business reads.
“Kelli and Laura were determined to create an applicator that would be family-friendly, cost-effective and environmentally responsible.
“With this goal in mind, they chose to develop a refillable applicator, enabling consumers to utilise their favourite sunscreen and easily replenish it as needed.”
The shape of the applicator is chunky so it is easier for little hands to grip.
Each one is designed with a “sponge and rollerball partnership” that minimises mess and wasted product.
The pair put a lot of Solar Buddies’ success down to TikTok.
“It’s due to the pandemic,” Laura explained.
“I think a lot of people joined TikTok due to the pandemic – I know I did.
“We’ve got quite good relationships with a few influencers in America, and in this country as well.”
Each Solar Buddy costs £7.98 and the product is so popular that it is currently sold out in Boots.
Laura and Kelli walked away from Dragon’s Den with investment from Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden.
They gave each dragon a 10% stake in exchange for £40,000 investment, totalling their initial ask of £80,000.