Dubliner becomes millionaire as patch idea goes global

A 25-year-old Dublin entrepreneur is set to become a millionaire after turning his idea for nutrition patches into a global business.

Gareth Sheridan, from Terenure, came up with the idea for his thesis as a Business and Management degree student at DIT Aungier Street.

He is now selling his nutrition patches across five continents.

His remarkable success story emerged when he was selected by Nissan to join their innovative Generation Next ambassador programme which supports upcoming Irish leaders on the world stage.

Gareth started his company Nutriband in mid 2012 with

?¬10,000 of his own money but expects to turnover

?¬1 million for 2015 having become a subsidiary of the publicly traded US company, NNRX.

NNRX are world leaders in researching and developing nutrition products and Gareth has spent the past year working with them to develop his nutrition patches and to negotiate distribution deals in dozens of countries worldwide.

“The patches work the same way as nicotine or HRT patches,

? Gareth explained.

“They are transdermal and deliver nutrition through the skin. They are fast, simple and removable.

“We currently have three products, one containing nutrients to boost energy, one with multi-vitamins and one formulated for use during weight loss,

? he added.

Nutriband’s nutrition patches are selling in North America and are also stocked in the Philippines by GNC who are one of the world’s largest health store chains.

In January of this year the patches were listed and featured on the homepage of Lazada.com, Southeast Asia’s number one online shopping retailer with a staggering 56 million unique visitors each month.

“We have spent the past eight months creating new distribution channels for the second edition of the patches and have 12 countries lined up to take it when it is ready,

? said Gareth.

“We have exclusive sales and distribution licenses for Canada and South Africa. The product will also be available in Ireland and the UK, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Sweden, Belgium, France and Korea and we have had enquiries from Brazil and Australia,

? he added.

Gareth’s success has not gone unnoticed at DIT Aungier Street with his old lecturers recently inviting him back to the college to talk to its business students about the value of acting on ideas and the fact that you can not learn everything from a book.

“It’s funny how it worked out. This was a thesis idea and 2012 was my final year. I was going to college by day and working on this at night. The more I worked on it the more I realised it was a great business opportunity,

? said Gareth.

“I started missing a lot of college and it was a tough year. I didn’t want to tell anyone what I was working on and people thought I was a dosser, but the hard work paid off and all was later revealed,

? he added.

Gareth called on the help of a friend who was a chemistry graduate to proof the product and also secured funding from the South Dublin Local Enterprise Board as well as CE mark approval before finding a company in China to produce a minimum order.

He was selling directly to local independent nutrition and supplement stores and also online when a former girlfriend facilitated an introduction to the CEO of finance company Alta Nordic who subsequently introduced him to the US company now known as NNRX.

“I have been lucky but I have also worked hard,

? he reflected.Things have progressed very quickly.

?