Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition tends to attract sophisticated software and app-focused startups in the main, but Mayo entrepreneur Seán McGarry (25) won plaudits for a much more traditional venture.

In IBYE 2019. McGarry won the best established business category with his business, ShowerGem, which sells moulded plastic shower caddies to hold bottles and other shower paraphernalia.

McGarry (pictured) says he has sold around 12,500 units, priced at €50 each, since January 2019. The clear plastic shelving unit is manufactured in Ireland and is attached to the shower wall using glue.

McGarry’s father, Seán Snr, came up with the idea for the product. A plastic fabricator, McGarry Snr designed a plastic caddy and his son immediately saw potential to build a business around it. “I knew it would be a winner because it’s such a simple product,” says McGarry Jnr.

After a two-year period of prototyping and testing, ShowerGem launched in October 2018. ShowerGem is currently sold through the business’s website and in bathroom stores around Ireland. McGarry also got Right Price Tiles on board as a stockist, and is in talks with John Lewis and B&Q in the UK to roll it out there. Talks are also ongoing with QVC in the US.

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ShowerGem is protected with international patents, trademarks and registered designs, a lengthy and costly process that McGarry insists is essential to help the business expand overseas. “IP protection is essential – retailers don’t like knowing that someone else could go and make a cheaper version,” he says.

Westport investor Dennis Clarke invested €40,000 in ShowerGem in June 2018 and McGarry is currently mulling additional investment options.

An appearance on the UK TV show Dragons’ Den this year saw three dragons join to offer £100,000 for 24% equity. However, McGarry isn’t sure he needs them. “ShowerGem has grown considerably since we filmed the Dragons’ Den episode back in April. We’re trying to figure out if we need the dragons at the moment. Our business is very uncomplicated and it would be nice to keep it that way for a bit longer.”