Name: Ruth Ruane
Location: Fr Griffin Road
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Favourite thing about Galway: The people and being near the sea
Worst thing about Galway: The terrible planning!

Entrepreneur Ruth Ruane has been setting up businesses for years but faced her toughest challenge recently when she paid a visit to the Dragons' Den.

Ever since she was in school, Ruth Ruane has been an ideas person and has been running different enterprises since she was in school. A creative person, she says she is always "bursting with ideas" and operates her businesses from her home on Fr Griffin Road.

"I used to make postcards in school and sell them during the summer. I always have something to do, always ideas, ideas, ideas! I prefer the idea stage. I'd say managing people and that kind of thing wouldn't be my cup of tea; I prefer the creative side. My husband Sean is the business brain, without him I couldn't have done any of it!"

It was Ruth's creative ingenuity that led her to set up her current business, White Witch. She decided to set up the brand in 2005 after being left with a large amount of oatmeal from one of her previous projects. She began to use to the oatmeal as a bath product for her baby and soon noticed that it had a great effect on her child's dry skin.

"I made my first product from that and I decided that I was going to try and sell it. Then I was wondering how am I going to package this? I didn't want to add to the plastic mountain, so I came up with a way of packaging the baby bath using natural materials. That was my first product and I went on from there."

Ruth expanded the White Witch range to include everything from perfumes to haircare - available online at www.whitewitch.ie and from a number of local retailers. The aim of the company is to produce natural products with natural biodegradable packaging, meaning that the products are perfect for those who are environmentally conscious or suffer from sensitive skin.

While Ruth has seen the business trade successfully online, she feels that large-scale promotion is necessary to bring the business to the next level.

"The company needs a big capital investment to bring it up there. It is very slow process of developing the brand and the products, so now the main obstacle is getting it out there and raising awareness."

After suggestions from her husband and a number of friends, she decided to apply to RTE series Dragons' Den to seek €100,000 investment for the business.

While she was accepted to pitch her idea to the Dragons in an episode which aired last week, Ruth was ultimately unsuccessful in her bid and feels that a lack of understanding of the brand contributed to their decision.

"It was really easy to apply and I forgot all about it once I sent in the form. About four or five months later then I got the call saying that I was accepted. I was really excited initially and then really nervous! They came across on the television as really tough, but they were really nice," explains Ruth.

"They didn't really understand the business that well. I had so many products in there and it was all new to them. Of course, I was really cheeky looking for €100,000 as well!"

With hindsight, Ruth says she should have asked for a lower amount but does not regret her appearance on the show.

"I would bring it down if I went back again. My husband advised me to bring it down, but I wouldn't listen to him! Coming up to it, I was watching the past episodes from the UK on YouTube, because I couldn't find any of the old Irish ones, and all of the entrepreneurs on the English one asked for a minimum of €100,000. If I had seen some of the past Irish ones, I wouldn't have asked for so much because there seems to be a much lower average here."

As well as running White Witch, Ruth also works as a web designer with husband Séan as part of their company Loewen Media.

For more information on White Witch products, log on to www.whitewitch.com.

Comments (1) »

not the amount, the past income
written by Rosie, May 18, 2010

It's true that the amount requested was large, but if her financial records had shown reasonable numbers, she may have gotten it. Instead, she only made a pittance in the four previous years, I believe that is why she was rejected. Unreasonable expectations.

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