James Flawith of Comox has landed in the Dragons’ Den, where he will pitch his high-visibility children’s clothing this month in Toronto.
He qualified for a chance to appear on the popular CBC show after a successful audition in Nanaimo.
“I’ve had enough people tell me to do this for Lil Worker Safety Gear,” Flawith said. “We had a good audition. They said, ‘There’s a lot of kids for our staff in Toronto that want to parade around in your gear for the Dragons.’ This is after the audition. I’m thinking, ‘Maybe I have a chance’.”
A few days later, he received a call requesting his presence in Toronto.
“I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect that…I appreciate the opportunity. They’ve been very good. They put me with a producer to work with.”
Filming takes place April 19 — but only the “TV worthy” will be aired.
“It will be a good experience,” said Flawith, a father of three young boys. “I’m going in hoping to make a deal. The deal is the primary goal, the secondary goal is to make it on TV and get some exposure. Live models for what we’re doing would be the icing on the cake. Really get the message across, too — real work gear for real kids.
“The thing that kicked my butt into gear was the safety-for-kids aspect,” he added, referring to the impetus behind the business idea. “I didn’t want to develop something that was just another costume for kids to play in, I wanted something that was real safety gear.”
Lil Worker Safety Gear made the top five for Best Concept in the last Small Business BC Awards. Flawith, the owner of Precision Tree Services, also won the Young Entrepreneur category at this year’s Chamber of Commerce Community Awards.
