TV dragons Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman invest in Hainault business
Rachel and Josh Cummins with Lee Hoppen of Let's Sanitise, which received investment on Dragons' Den - Credit: Let's Sanitise
A Hainault hand care business has won investment on TV show Dragons' Den.
Josh Cummins and Redbridge-born Lee Hoppen pitched their business Let's Sanitise to the multi-millionaire investors Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett, Sara Davies and Touker Suleyman in an episode that aired last night (March 17).
The Roebuck Road business, which began in the midst of the pandemic with supplying sanitiser stations, has now branched out to include scented hand lotions, mists and gels.
Peter had looked set to decline to invest until an intervention from Josh.
Josh told the Recorder: "We had to get Peter and there was no way we weren't going to get Peter.
"I gave an impassioned plea and he said 'for that reason I'm going to make you an offer'.
"When he said those words, me and Lee looked at each other and we were over the moon."
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The duo received £80,000 offers from both Peter and Touker, with a final deal seeing the two dragons share the investment.
Peter Jones invested in Let's Sanitise - Credit: PA
Both Josh and Lee, who have known each other for 12 years, have other businesses - Lee runs Megabooth with Josh's wife Rachel, which offers photo experiences at events while Josh heads up automotive recruitment company Theo Jones.
They said both of these businesses ground to a halt during lockdown.
Lee said: "My business Megabooth - you couldn't probably have been in a worse business.
"We literally didn't get one bit of business for 18 months. We also had to refund all of our bookings. It was unprecedented what happened."
Megabooth donated its warehouse to charity We C U 2020, which used it to receive donations to provide for frontline NHS staff.
Josh said: "We realised after a couple of weeks, this thing (Covid) wasn't going away.
"We thought 'what can we offer to our clients that they may need now?'
"It started off with the sanitiser stations and developed thereafter."
Let's Sanitise, which also has Rachel as creative director, is continuing to donate hand care items with a 'you buy we donate' scheme.
It has so far given more than 25,000 bottles to the likes of the NHS, care homes and homeless shelters.
The business is also now planning to offer products in a way that is 100 per cent plastic-free, Josh said.
