A children's publisher which won Dragons' Den backing from Sara Davies for the world’s first plantable books is planning to crack America.
Willsow came up with a way of printing books with seeds stuck inside the back cover which kids can cut off and plant.
It came to the attention of the Dragons' Den producers after picking up a prize at the 2020 LeicestershireLive Innovation Award Winners. Panellist Sara Davies MBE ended up buying a 15 per cent stake in the Leicester-based business – beating competition from Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones – and agreed to put £20,000 into it.
Willsow now has five books which children can read then plant to grow carrots, lettuce, basil, dill and parsley, as well as a book with a secret pack of pumpkin seeds in the back and greetings cards made from non-whiffy elephant poo.
There is also a Remembrance Day card with poppy seeds in as well as a carrot pen made from wood and greetings cards made from grass clippings.
Everything is made on-site at the publishing company run by the family of co-founder Tom Willday – who launched Willsow with friend and business partner James Coulthurst in 2019.
The six-strong team prints around 1,000 books a day and has deals in place with retailers including Central England Co-op and Dobbies Garden Centres as well as around 1,000 independent stockists.
Business development manager Baylee Magee said as well as launching new products the big plan for 2023 was to start exporting to the States.
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Mr Magee said: “We’re already printing books every day to keep up with demand, and all the paper is made from recycled sources, mixed with the seeds here and rolled out using hand operated machinery.
“We’re quite lucky because we fit into a few different retail categories, including gifts, gardening and sustainability. Christmas is always huge for us but we have a second busy period in the spring planting season and around Easter.
“We want 2023 to be the year that Willsow finally gets its wings and we are going to go international – focussing across the Pond to start with.
“We’re also planning to be at the Chelsea Flower Show next summer and looking to develop a completely new book which is going to be one-of-a-kind. All we can say is it will be interactive.”