Kildare wheelchair user makes winning investment bid on BBC's Dragons' Den
Kildare man Matt Walker is one of two entrepreneurs who secured funding on BBC One’s Dragons’ Den programme for their business, which assembles and distributes the Omeo wheelchair.
Matt Walker and Cristian Brownlee entered the den to negotiate for a £40,000 investment for 15% in their business.
At the end of their pitch, Matt and Cristian were delighted to have negotiated a joint offer from dragon’s Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett, who each pledged a third of the money for a 5% share of the business.
Matt, a greenkeeper and tree surgeon from Caragh Court in Naas with relatives in Two Mile House and aged 43 now, was left permanently in a wheelchair after falling from a ladder on a job on August 6 2018, breaking his spine in several places.
While working in a client’s garden and descending from a ladder on a hedge trimming job, electricity arced from an overhead cable and connected with Matt’s machine, which electrocuted him.
He now lives in Ascot and has a T10 spinal injury which means he is paralysed from the waist down and Cristian 33 from Chislehurst has a T4 spinal injury which has left him permanently paralysed from the chest down. Having both had active lives before their accidents they wanted chairs that would give them improved mobility.
They are co directors of Adapt Ability, which distributes the Omeo wheelchair, which itself has technology allowing the user to travel over uneven terrain, scale inclines and navigate troughs and bumps in the ground. The company is operated by disabled people working to provide mobility solutions for disabled people. .
Matt said: “Shortly after my accident a group of my Mum's friends in Kildare got together and raised the funds to buy an Omeo for me. It has changed my life radically for the better and I can never give enough thanks to the generous people of Kildare who came together to buy an Omeo for me. We now want to be able to share the incredible benefit of using an Omeo with as many people as possible. We were incredibly nervous entering the den but very confident about the positive impact the chair will have for the lives of disabled people and we were over the moon when we received investment from three dragons.
“When I realised I was paralysed and would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life it was devastating. Mentally I struggled with the idea of being 'trapped' in my chair. I struggled with the idea that I wouldn't be able to access the places I loved. I struggled with being 'seen' in my chair.
“Then I found the Omeo and from the moment I was lucky enough to take delivery of it, people no longer asked me about what had happened to me and instead wanted to talk to me about my 'cool chair.' There are very few places I can't go on it and it’s genuinely the closest thing I have to total independence. It has helped me both mentally and physically in the face of my paralysis and I feel proud to be on it.”
Cristian said: “In our pitch we explained how important it is for us to be able to offer not only the latest in mobility technology but provide an essential quick and efficient service. Matt and I experience daily how important a piece of mobility equipment can be for every simple function of our day and we really wanted to ensure the dragon’s fully understood the improved quality of life the Omeo will give.”
Cristian was the first person in the UK to use an Omeo and was amazed at the additional opportunities that the chair opened up. After they had both experienced the huge difference it made to their lives, the two came together to build a business that would make the chair available across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
Cristian said: “I did not understand just how debilitating depression could be until I came to the realisation that I will never walk again. After my spinal cord injury, I spent my life holed up inside the safety of my home. I did not want to speak to anyone, I did not want to be seen by anyone. My comfort in life was my dog and the vast number of animal videos available on YouTube.
“When my chair arrived I transferred onto it, attached a lead on my dog, and left the house to visit the local woodlands. I was so intoxicated with my new sense of independence that I don’t remember much else that day other than the tears of happiness rolling down my face, the ecstatic and confused look on my dog for actually being outside with me, and the constant comments of awe from passers-by expressing just how cool I look.”