HE DIDN'T win the €200,000 investment from Bill Cullen, but Apprenticerunner-up Noel Rowland last night pressed ahead with the launch of his RetroFit Technologies company in Baldonnel, Co Dublin, with fellow Mayoman Taoiseach Enda Kenny doing the honours.
RetroFit has the exclusive distribution rights for Cantillana external wall insulation, which is produced by a Belgian company.
It aims to supply the materials to more than 300 installers, which it will train and certify. The installers will be in effect franchisees, with RetroFit handling marketing and other centralised functions.
Rowland’s business plan envisages turnover this year of €1.037 million and a profit of €158,000. This is projected to rise to €1.6 million in 2013 when profits are forecast to hit €333,000.
It did not entice Cullen to invest but Rowland is “really excited” by the business opportunity and he expects more than 500 homes to be fitted with the insulation material next year.
The product is not cheap. It costs about €11,000 for a typical semidetached home. Government grants of €2,800 are available and Rowland reckons homeowners will get their money back after about a decade. “The product has a life span of 30 to 60 years,” he said. But it remains to be seen if cash-strapped Irish homeowners will respond to the product in the current financial climate.
Rowland said The Apprenticeprovided him with great experience in marketing, PR and strategy but he was almost relieved that he lost out to Kildareman Eugene Heary and did not have to give away half of his company to Cullen.
“I’m happy with the result . . . I didn’t have to give anything away,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.
“It was a huge platform to launch the business. It was also a fierce learning curve.”
Rowland put the start-up costs for RetroFit at €70,000 in initial capital; €50,000 for stock; and €50,000 to €80,000 for cash flow. He is not a complete business novice. Rowland already has a retrofitting company called Churchfield Green Energy that works in the Dublin area. It will do turnover of €2.4 million this year and make a profit of about €140,000.
Will he be retrofitting Cullen’s house? “Oh I think so,” Rowland said with a chuckle. “He’ll be the first on my list. I’ll get that €200,000 out of him some way.”
