Episode 3 Made in Northern Ireland

This wee country of ours has been at the forefront of some of the

world's most ground-breaking innovations.

The pneumatic tyre, the ejector seat, the portable defibrillator

and even the air-conditioning system were all made in Northern Ireland.

But that was then, and this is now.

We've a whole new breed of entrepreneurs from all over

Northern Ireland,

in fields in Fermanagh, sheds in Newtownards and workshops in Lurgan.

In this series,

we hope to showcase some of the best business minds in Northern Ireland.

Now, do they have what it takes to change the world?

'Each week, I'm going to travel the length and breadth of the

'country, meeting them...'

-Good to see you!

-How are you?

£10 for a selfie, love?

'..and learning more about their creations.'

I feel like I'm swaying back and forward, but I'm not.

I know exactly what's going to be happening at home.

There'll be one person sitting on the sofa loving an idea and

someone else - "It's never going to work!"

So we're going to actually bring in a people's panel every week

to do just that - ordinary people looking at these new creations in

Northern Ireland and trying to work out whether they like them or not.

I know exactly what you're thinking at home.

You've always wanted to see me in a bath, haven't you?

And I know that you want me to take my top off, but I'm not going to do

that today, because we're not here for any of that type of business.

We're actually here to meet a man who's created an invention

that stops you sliding down the bath.

My name is Jason Devine. My family and I were away for a weekend break.

In preparation, Pauline got her hair done, her nails done,

her make-up and all her dark arts that men can never fully understand.

Pauline decided that a bath would really help her relax after

we checked in. However, she can't fully relax.

When she lies back, she tends to slide deeper into the bath

and does not wish to get her hair wet.

She spends this time getting uncomfortable and never

achieving relaxation.

Our solution was the Bath Pebble, a non-slip wedge seat for the bath.

Simple idea, but it's sometimes those ones that are the best.

-Jason, this is the product.

-Yeah, the Bath Pebble.

So, how did you come up with this?

She kept sliding down and getting her hair wet, so we talked

about it and on the back of an envelope we designed this

over the weekend.

I want it to be organically shaped and sort of smooth, and the

name itself, the Bath Pebble, I want it to sort of tie in with nature.

And the simple idea is, seriously, you would put that under your bum.

-Yeah.

-And then you don't slip any more.

-Simple as that, yeah.

And your background will be interesting to some people in

Northern Ireland who will know your work but won't know it's you.

Yeah, my designs are in practically every store, probably,

-in Northern Ireland, especially...

-Go on, then.

Mr Tayto. I illustrated Mr Tayto, and I also designed the crisp bags.

-You illustrated Mr Tayto, the man?

-Yeah, yeah. Mr Tayto himself.

So when I'm eating my prawn cocktail...

Yeah, you're eating the bag that I designed, yeah.

'At first glance, it's easy to look at this small, simple piece

'of plastic and write it off as a gimmick,

'but this guy is from design royalty, king of the crisps.

'Could he really be onto something big here?

'Well, they do say the best things come in small packages, don't they?'

-I'm trying to think, does one size fit all?

-You can try it out and see.

I've never tried anything under my bum before. Let's see.

-It works.

-It does work!

-Yeah.

Which brings me to how many people have a problem slipping in the bath.

Well, whenever you look at the numbers of people who

actually bathe in the world, it's a fairly substantial figure,

and also bathing now has become more for relaxation than for washing.

Most people actually wash in the shower.

The fact that we can make a product now that actually provides a better

relaxation experience when in the bath, I think we're onto something.

How much do you reckon they'd sell for? Have you got to that stage?

We're looking at pricing around £15 per item.

I can get them manufactured for a lot less than that.

Y'see, sometimes it's the really simple ideas that confuse

people, because they think, "You couldn't protect that.

-"You can't make money out of that." This is protectable, isn't it?

-Yeah.

The shape of the design and the terminology.

So a bum seat for a bath no-one else in the world can do.

Well, for the UK at the minute.

I'm still looking after the rest of the world!

-Is there interest elsewhere?

-There is, yeah.

An Australian company have shown a lot of interest in this.

-No?!

-Yeah, yeah.

And they're actually looking at distribution in the US for

a retail outlet with over 1,000 stores.

With interest from chain stores in the USA and Australia, I'm

beginning to think that Mr Tayto here could really become the baron

of baths and bums. But I have a confession to make.

I've got to say, when I was sitting on it,

it didn't feel completely comfortable.

-Is it the wrong way round?

-Is it?

-All right, OK!

-Try it this way here.

But that way, that's like a way to stop you from...

-This is...

-Yeah. That better?

That's completely different now that I've got it the

right way round, because it was killing me the other way.

But, no, that IS comfortable now on my little fat bum cheeks.

It doesn't make a difference what size the butt is.

-What are you trying to say?

-I'm not trying anything!

I thought you get neck pillows and things like that, that sort of

kept your head up, or...

I didn't genuinely think that this was a problem.

I see it's kind of moulded...

But do they do that in different sizes? Do you know what I mean?

-You know.

-I've got an XXL Bath Pebble! You know?

"What size is your Bath Pebble?"

In its defence, it looks quite portable.

That might be a good thing.

But you wouldn't open your handbag... "What's that?"

-"It's my Bath Pebble."

-"Oh, it's my Bath Pebble"!

"I sit on this in the bath." I mean, it sounds quite rude.

What do you call it? A pebble? That just sounds so uncomfortable.

He has conviction about that product, which I like.

-You have to give him that.

-He's trying to do his best for his wife.

They had an issue, they have sorted out something that's sorted it out.

It sounds like they're having a domestic here,

just slipping in the bath, y'know?

I don't like dissing anybody or anybody's ideas,

but I just think that is ridiculous.

I have to say, I probably agree.

How about going to Beragh?

Where on earth is Beragh?

I'm told it's in Tyrone.

That's why I don't know where it is. Never been to Tyrone.

However, there is a farmer and his three sons - Mark Kelly's his

name - and he's come up with a device for sheep.

As farmers do.

We always helped our father take the sheep to the open plunge dip, and it

could be maybe a five or six-person job and it was very time-consuming.

So my father has come up with an idea.

An idea born from necessity,

when Mark's sons left the farm to pursue their own careers.

The children started to leave, and I had no way to dip sheep,

-so I come up with the idea.

-And what did you do?

I made an oil tank into a machine for dipping sheep.

There'll be lots of city boys like me don't really understand

-dipping sheep.

-No! No, a country man would know what dipping sheep was.

We would have helped out local neighbours when we were younger.

If you lived on a farm, you know what dipping sheep...

Everybody put their shoulder to the wheel.

Why do you need to dip sheep at all?

Parasites can live in the sheep's fleece, and that.

And farmers want to do it because it gives the sheep

a comfortable life out in the fields,

and they're not scratching or itching or anything like that.

And up to the early '90s,

it was compulsory to plunge-dip them into the open baths with a dip.

# How in heck can I wash my neck If it ain't gonna rain no more?... #

I think I'll leave the plunge-dipping to the farmers.

Looks a bit dangerous for me.

But it is still the tried and tested means of dipping sheep.

Have you ever got rammed into a couple of accidents in your time?

A few dips. You're putting sheep in, and it hits you and that's it, over!

Are we going to see it in action?

-We'll see it in action, surely.

-I don't like to get my hands dirty.

-Or my wee socks dirty.

-All you have to do is stand and watch,

unless you want to have a wee jump in. We could put you in!

Let's get in with the sheep.

I didn't think I'd ever hear myself saying that!

Get in behind them there, Stephen.

-Push them off.

-They'll not be getting past me!

Keep your eye on them.

I feel like all this smelly, mucky business, this is not me.

That's good. It helps your farm work, Stephen.

They're lined up now to go into the machine now.

Right, Stephen, I'm going to show you how this operates.

Go on. Go on. Go on.

Go on. Go on. Go on!

Go on up.

-So, they're all in at once.

-Yeah.

-OK!

# We ain't a-gonna wash We ain't a-gonna wash

# We ain't a-gonna wash for a week... #

There's 18 nozzles on it that gets them in all directions,

dipping chemical over the top of them.

And we have a wee timer. You can set a different time

depending on the lengths of fleece for how long you want them in.

So this is the only one that you know of in the world that does what?

What's different about this?

It's enclosed and there's 900 litres of water in there, and it recycles.

It's double filters and things.

So we've a few unique things there that we're targeting.

The beauty of this system is that there's less stress on the animals.

It's safer for the farmers and more environmentally friendly,

with less chemical seepage into the ground.

It's like a car wash for sheep, going on in there,

getting a nice wee wash. I feel like getting in myself.

And then, once they come out again, all those parasites,

they're washed off, none of the humans of course are getting

any of the chemicals near them.

Out they pop, away they go, clean as a whistle.

Look, now they're shaking. They'll dry themselves off.

-How did you enjoy that, sure, Stephen?

-Oh, it's the simple ideas.

-And you never got a drop of water on you.

-No, I did not!

-Terrible! Eh?

And now you're going to try to spread from Beragh around the world.

Round the world, yeah, and make farmers healthier and happier.

And every time I was saying that country people aren't as

-smart as city people.

-Don't you believe it, Stephen!

We're thinking all the time out in the country.

A shower of sheep!

I think it's clever. I think it's a good one.

I don't know, I don't have an awful lot of experience with sheep

-dipping.

-Really(?)

-No, funnily, I don't, actually.

But you're saving six people in labour.

And it seems it's making the sheep's life easier, then.

Yes, that's a nice thing. Your wee chop'll be a happier chop!

No, but, I mean, animal welfare is important, and it's good that...

And it'll keep them healthier,

and the chemical run-off into the rivers, a thing of the past.

Which is brilliant. They've put a lot of thought into it.

I think he has. Subject to the money being right, it could be great.

Yeah.

'Can I take your order, please?'

# A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut

# A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut... #

If you ever wanted a snapshot as to what is in my brain,

this is probably as close as you're going to get,

because this is like treasure to me -

big burgers, a cola, the prawn-cocktail crisps,

the chocolate - and this is just all of the temptation that I

give in to that makes me as fat as I am.

And what I just want to constantly do, seriously, is reach out

for some of this stuff, for example reaching out for the chicken.

Mm! That's just lovely.

But before I take that bite and give in to temptation,

what if there was something which helped me to try not to do that?

That's what our next team of inventors have come up with.

Could it really be as easy as something you snap on your wrist?

# Keep on stretching your rubber band, now... #

These five lads from Queen's University have come up with a

product called SnapIt, based on the principle of Pavlovian conditioning,

where the theory is that through repeated stimulus,

natural impulses can be reprogrammed.

The guys from SnapIt have taken this principle and given it

a modern twist.

It seems there's an app for EVERYTHING these days.

This is already around, where these things, negative reinforcement,

as you say...

What you're doing is you're marrying the product to then collecting

data on your phone.

And if you have your craving,

you snap the band, and that sends a message to your phone,

and then from your phone you can see when you're snapping it,

when you're likely to do it.

The app will realise, say, three o'clock every day,

you crave your chocolate bar.

# Keep on stretching your rubber band... #

Then at, say, half two, it'll send you a message and be like,

"Have an apple," or, "Eat something healthy," so that when it

comes to three o'clock, you're not hungry or wanting chocolate.

It's a way of recording into your phone when you're having

-those impulses to be bad.

-Yeah.

So you can start to look at the trends and start to say,

"Right, at two o'clock every day, that's when my dodgy time is,

"so I need to distract myself."

I love a bit of thigh.

-But it doesn't actually hurt.

-Well, it should hurt a bit!

-Really?

-Yeah.

What it does is it, like, snaps you back into focus and makes you

really remember, like, "Right, I'm trying to stop doing this."

You haven't had a cigarette yesterday and you're craving one -

if you don't have something there to tell you, like, you're doing well,

then you're more likely to just sort of forget how well you're doing.

So I'm going to eat my favourite bar of chocolate. I'm now doing that.

-I go like that.

-Yep.

-You've not left us any!

-I've licked it! I've licked it!

# Keep on stretching your rubber band, now... #

I'm like, it's a habit,

you kind of know when you're going to do things, or...

Well, breaking habits, I think, are great,

because I used to bite my nails...

Yeah, but is that going to help you break it?

I just think SnapIt would become almost like a habit itself,

because your phone, every time you're doing that...

Well, better doing that than smoking.

If somebody smokes and wants to stop smoking,

there's umpteen things out there.

There are, but snapping is an established way that

hypnotists and all that sort of people use.

Say, for example, it was obesity, I think it'd be great.

There's potential there to team up with a healthy restaurant

or something like that.

It might say, "Go for a walk, and if we can track you walking for

"a mile, then we'll give you 10% off at the restaurant."

-Look at you!

-That's what it would do.

-Yeah, but that's your idea.

That's not their idea.

Those young fellas, if you think about it,

in their early 20s,

they're innovating not just in their head but they're making it happen.

And I think that's what's really nice about this series.

We're seeing people born and bred in Northern Ireland making it

happen in Northern Ireland.

And from the serious invention that we've just seen

to this mad entrepreneur.

What can I say about Paddy Bloomer?

# Ha-ha-ha-ha! Mad man blues!

# I come home last night about nine o'clock

# I really wish there was knock-knock-knock

# I got the madman blues... #

# You're window shopping, just window shopping... #

With the decline of the high street, most of us are forced to

travel a little bit further to do our grocery shopping.

If you've a car, that's OK.

If you don't, then a shopping trolley is

a cheap and effective way of transporting goods.

I've some experience of travelling by shopping trolley, and the

handling characteristics are very poor, so I've done some redesign.

This is the off-road shopping trolley.

# Hit it! #

A set of rubber caterpillar tracks here.

They give excellent traction on rough ground.

A 24-volt DC motor.

A set of lead-acid batteries to give us a couple of mile cruising range.

Joystick interface here, which gives us excellent control,

great manoeuvrability in confined spaces.

Best of all, because it's used outside the supermarket,

there's no-one to tell you off for stamping in their back.

So, we've got a foot peg on here.

# I got soul

# And I'm super-bad... #

We're doing our best to get across Northern Ireland to find some

of the best entrepreneurs, some of the best ideas that there are

out there just as they're starting out.

What we're also going to do, though,

once a week, is focus on an established business

so that you can see a success story that's already happened.

Skunk Works is making waves across the world, actually.

It's run by brothers Chris and Ricky.

What they've done is they've come up with a product,

a soft surfboard which uses 100% recyclables.

Anyone in Northern Ireland can make a success of themselves.

If they have an idea and they really, really,

really want to make it happen, they can make it happen.

Some of the most successful ideas

are born from finding a problem and fixing it well,

and that's exactly what two surfer brothers from Portrush have

been doing from this tiny factory in Coleraine.

We know surfing. We grew up on the island's surf team.

We competed for years. We know the problems with the boards.

Three years ago, near the end of the season,

all of his boards were falling to pieces, so we just thought,

"There has got to be a better way to make these boards."

Chris's brother Ricky runs the longest-established surf

school in Northern Ireland and was fast becoming frustrated at the poor

quality of the polystyrene learner boards used across the industry.

All of these boards were just getting produced out of factories

in China, and the materials that they've been using to make

them out of are polystyrene. They glue on a top piece.

So this is a section cut out of a new board, and we can just simply...

..peel that whole thing away.

And this polystyrene has basically no structure,

so if I put my knee into it, it just breaks away.

This is what happens in your surf school.

Our materials have never before been used in the surf industry.

We've got a new deck which is super-soft.

It's like a yoga mat, so no rub and really comfortable.

We've got a rail here on the side, and that's basically to take

all the impact of different fins from surfboards hitting it.

The other major innovation is we don't use any glues or

adhesives in the whole production process.

We only use hot air to bond all of the layers together.

It's all one piece so there isn't any weak points on it.

There isn't anything where you can get your finger in and rip it away.

These boards aren't just revolutionary for surfers.

They also aim to revolutionise

the environmental ethos of the entire industry.

The industry isn't eco-friendly at all.

I mean, all of these things here are not eco-friendly to produce,

they're really hard to recycle.

Our board is the world's first 100% recyclable surfboard.

There isn't a single surfboard out there in the world right now

that can compete with us on any level.

# I wanna go surfing... #

We've been away to California,

we've met the biggest surfboard companies in the world.

They love our product,

something completely unique and far more hard-wearing and

longer-lasting than anything else that's on the global market.

I love the fact that we're making all the boards here in

Northern Ireland, in Coleraine, for global export.

We couldn't have dreamed about where we are now three years ago.

We can hardly believe the position

we're in right now. It is fantastic.

Now, our next entrepreneur, Ken McFeeters,

is a serial inventor who comes up

with all of these different ideas from his little shed in Newtownards.

The reason he caught my attention - cold callers. Can't stand them!

You're sitting in your house and you're sitting back eating

a wee packet of prawn cocktail or you're driving along in

a car, happy as Larry, and one of these idiots phones you.

"Would you like to buy...?" Cold-call this, cold-call that.

Can't stand it. They drive me... HE GROWLS

..mad!

-BEEP

-'Leave a message or leave me alone.'

Don't you love cold callers? I'm Ken McFeeters from Sanyx International.

# I just called... #

Cold-call blockers on the market are tedious to work with, and what

I did was I developed a much better solution, and that's the CallCop.

-# Whoop-whoop!

-That's the sound of the police

-# Whoop-whoop!

-That's the sound of the police... #

As with all Ken's inventions, the CallCop was brought to life

in this former builder's workshop in Newtownards.

His second-in-command here is his 17-year-old son Adam,

and they are on a mission to protect the nation from cold callers.

-You can stop nuisance callers?

-Yes.

-I feel like hugging you.

-Well, don't.

-I feel like kissing you...

-I'm not that way inclined!

..because they drive me insane,

especially when they phone the mobile.

But if they phone your house, it's invasive. I feel like decking them.

A relative of mine had early-onset dementia,

and we were all sitting round the Christmas dinner, and she said,

"Y'know, I was talking to a really nice man on the phone today."

Somebody at the table said, "Well, who was that?"

She said, "Oh, erm, I really can't remember."

And that struck me as, "Oh, there's a problem here."

These nuisance calls take their money and there's lots of this

crime going on, and I designed this product to actually stop the

scammer getting through.

-How does it work?

-Well, that's where the magic sauce is.

-You're not going to tell me?

-No. Then I'd have to kill you.

I definitely would have to kill you!

Ken's oh-so-secret sauce that he won't discuss with me

is based on the fact that the vast majority of nuisance

calls originate not from people but from machines.

The machine rings about five million numbers a day,

and once you answer that phone,

the machine then directs you to a call centre, where the person

at the call centre picks the call up and starts to talk to you.

-And irritates you.

-Yes. And annoys you.

The nice thing about the CallCop is it doesn't even ring in that

-situation.

-So what does it do?

It basically flashes, like a little cop.

-# Whoop-whoop!

-That's the sound of the police... #

-What are you going to price it at?

-Well, we're selling this for £97.

-Tell me this and I'll buy one straight away, all right?

-OK...

So, the suits in the BBC often try to get through to me,

-and I like to block them. All right?

-Yes.

And they always call from their wee office on the sixth floor with their

wee cocktail sausages at their desk and their wee suits on,

and it's always from a withheld number.

-Could this block the suits at the BBC from getting to me?

-Yes.

Another little bit of magic sauce in there, Stephen.

-A magic anti-BBC-suit sauce?

-That's it, anti-BBC-suit sauce.

I love it!

Ken and Adam's secret sauce isn't confined to the CallCop.

There's also the FaxCop,

the Commander Alarm System,

the Roof Commander,

and now Ken's keen to introduce me

to the very latest addition to the family.

-Looks like a robot.

-Oh, now we're talking.

-What is this?

-This is the Tank Commander.

-Tank Commander?

-Yes! Do you like that name?

-And what is that?

The Tank Commander tells the thief you know he's there.

It starts beeping, and then at the same time a text goes out to you.

-To say someone's at the tank?

-Yes.

So, I'm coming to steal the oil. A big burglar. Very big burglar.

I'll probably be footling around here.

BEEP Oh! And the alarm goes off.

Can you recognise me behind my disguise?

Flashing lights are beeping. "Owner knows you are here."

-HEY! Are you trying to steal my oil?

-I'm doing a runner!

That's Stephen Nolan!

-How low can you go?

-ALARM WAILS

-Is it protected around the world?

-Patents as far away as

China, Australia, Eurasia, Russia, America...

-From this little...

-Yes, this little place in Newtownards!

I don't know whether that product works or not. That's for you to say.

But what's the difference in the mentality of

lots of the rest of us - we all have ideas, don't we? -

and then people like you, who see them through?

I think the difference is you've got to have a neck like yours, Stephen.

Rubber neck. But you also have to have perseverance.

It does take a very determined attitude to do it,

to get it finished.

-Excellent.

-I love it.

-I've no idea how it works.

-Well, you don't need to. You can buy one from BT at the moment.

-Right.

-Anyway, I think it's a good idea.

-It's a great idea.

And so, too, is the alarm for the oil.

I have gas, so... I don't know what you guys...

I think it is a genuine, legitimate problem, that people do

siphon off these oil tanks when people are out at work and things,

but when you think of constantly refilling, you know,

and that's a lifelong purchase.

-So, have you had any nicked?

-Not me personally, no.

-No, I haven't. Have you?

-No.

-Nope. Well, there you are.

There's no way I'm buying that,

but I might borrow a copy or make a little copy and stick it on

the top, because that's what deters people.

I'll not be buying it, put it that way, but somebody will buy it.

He is a really good inventor, but that CallCop,

I think BT have got there ahead of him.

Yeah, possibly. They possibly have.

I really do hope some of you do try whatever it is that is inside

your head for an idea.

There will be the majority of you watching this programme

tonight who won't.

You'll have a notion of what you could do,

and you won't go through with it.

And yet there will be one or two or three or four of you that will

try something - maybe more - and somebody somewhere will make

themselves a lot of money and fulfil their dreams. I hope it's you.