Loser on Dragons' Den finds winning formula
A businessman from the Black Country is preparing to open a shop in weeks selling an anti-ageing product that was dismissed by the BBC's Dragons' Den but is now making him £500,000 a month.
The unit will be unveiled by John Richardson in Brierley Hill High Street. It will sell products which are made by his firm Richibrown including the Organic Natox Cream, which he says is a natural alternative to having to undergo botox treatment.
Mr Richardson has also been offered a regular slot on shopping channel QVC in Canada, France and Germany, while he is also in talks over becoming a business advisor on ITV's Daybreak programme.
The Dragons' Den judging panel featuring Duncan Bannatyne and Deborah Meaden turned down the entrepreneur when he appeared on the popular show last year.
But worldwide sales of the £90-a-bottle cream are bringing in thousands for the 39-year-old, of Dudley Road, Halesowen.
The product has a £2.5 million turnover and is on sale in 18 countries. Now final building work is being carried out at the new unit, alongside the offices where he is based next to Pulse nightclub. Mr Richardson, a father of two who grew up in Pedmore and went to Pedmore Technology College, said: "In some ways I'm more excited about opening a shop in Brierley Hill than I am about the TV deals.
"It's been a rollercoaster but we are going from strength to strength. I still find it hard to believe that this is happening to me."
Mr Richardson is also working on a babycare wash range with former Eastenders star Natalie Cassidy, and celebrities from eccentric X Factor contestant Rylan Clark to model Nell McAndrew have been praising Natox on Twitter.
