Dragons’ Den entrepreneur hoping his magic will rub off on others

DRAGONS’ Den investment winner Neil Westwood, from Worcester-based Magic Whiteboard, has teamed up with business secretary Vince Cable to launch a new campaign to encourage entrepreneurship.

Westwood appeared in series six of the programme in 2008 and received £100,000 investment and the backing of ‘dragons’ Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis, in return for 40% of the business.

Magic Whiteboard – a portable whiteboard on a roll – evolved as a product because Westwood, who was working as a trainer for the NHS, was fed up carrying a flipchart around the wards and was looking for an easier solution.

Now Westwood is aiming to encourage other budding entrepreneurs. He was at the House of Commons to launch “Breaking Down the Barriers to Entrepreneurship”. More than 70 small businesses participated in the launch.

The idea is to promote simple, quick and easy actions that can be implemented to help small businesses grow more quickly.

Westwood supports the recommendation to create a more enterprise culture in schools and to encourage more businesses to get involved in talking to schools to inspire students to set up new ventures.

More than 1,400 students and teachers have already taken part in the free Magic Whiteboard skype business sessions with Westwood.