AN ENTREPRENEUR who turned down a £100,000 investment from TV show Dragons’ Den for her unique ice skating invention has celebrated the launch of the product at a celebrity-packed event.
Karen O’Neill, of Queens Grove Road in Chingford, and business partner Karen Coombes impressed the judges on the BBC programme in 2009 with their modified roller skates which give the sensation of travelling on ice.
Dragon Theo Paphitis spotted the product’s potential and offered the money for a slice of future profits.
But they ditched him when a rival offer was later made by Paul Wright of the Ideal World shopping channels chain.
After years of hard work the skates are finally on sale and celebrities from ITV's Dancing on Ice show including Jayne Torvill, Karen Barber and David Seaman all came down to help celebrate in central London yesterday (Wednesday May 25).
"It went really well," said 45-year-old Ms O’Neill.
"We've already started to get quite a market going in Ireland where there aren't many ice skating rinks, and they're also getting popular in Scotland.
"We don't want to stop and the focus now is selling the product and expanding the business."
The two businesswoman are shortly due to launch a fitness DVD and programme for use with the 'off ice' skates and hope one day to start selling the product across Europe.
Visit www.off-iceskating.com for more.
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