Draft:Laura Waters

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Draft:Laura Waters
  • Comment: Lede begins "a patented refillable child-friendly sunscreen applicator". See WP:NPOV. Rewrite article in neutral & encyclopedic for tone & content. CopyleftEverything (talk) 08:39, 19 June 2026 (UTC)


Laura Waters (born 1983, Wales) is a Welsh entrepreneur and co-founder of Solar Buddies, a patented refillable child-friendly sunscreen applicator. Together with her business partner Kelli Aspland, she founded Solar Buddies in 2015 after a conversation outside St David's RC School in Cwmbran, South Wales, where both women identified a practical gap created by school no-touch policies preventing teachers from applying sunscreen to pupils.[1][2]

Solar Buddies secured an £80,000 investment on Dragons' Den Series 20 in April 2023 from investors Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden, and subsequently reached £7 million in sales in 2024, expanding into major retailers including Target in the United States, Boots UK, Tesco (346 stores), Asda, and Morrisons.[3][4]

Waters has described the business as a "sliding doors" moment in her life, and has spoken publicly about the role the culture of Solar Buddies played as a stabilising support structure during a period of personal difficulty.[2] She serves as a volunteer with The King's Trust (formerly The Prince's Trust), working with young entrepreneurs in South Wales.[5] Waters and Aspland were shortlisted for Retail Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2023,[6] and Solar Buddies was included in the FEBE Growth 100 2024.[4]

Early life

Laura Waters was born in 1983 and raised in the Cwmbran area of South Wales. Prior to co-founding Solar Buddies, she was writing a book. She and Kelli Aspland have both described Solar Buddies as a "sliding doors" career moment.[2]

Founding of Solar Buddies

Waters met Kelli Aspland in 2011 while collecting their three-year-old children from St David's RC School in Cwmbran. The founding idea arose directly from a conversation between them about the practical consequences of school no-touch policies. Waters later described the catalyst: "My mate's son got really badly burned in school. I mentioned it to Kelli, and she said, 'funny enough, I had a phone call yesterday [from the nursery]. The kids had gone in a right mess putting their sunscreen on and teachers just can't help them.'"[1]

Waters and Aspland spent several years developing a prototype solution, working with the product design programme at Cardiff Metropolitan University. According to Gareth Barham, who led that programme, the two founders visited the university at an early stage of the business to discuss initial designs and gain support from students.[7]

Solar Buddies Ltd was formally launched as a commercial product in 2015. The company received early investment from Martin Turner, Waters' stepfather, before later attracting external investment through Hayley Parsons OBE, the Welsh entrepreneur and founder of GoCompare, who became a backer and mentor to the founders.[1][7]

A patent for the applicator was granted in the United Kingdom, with an international patent application pending at the time of the company's Dragons' Den appearance.[8]

Dragons' Den

In April 2023, Laura Waters and Kelli Aspland appeared in the series finale of Dragons' Den Series 20 on BBC One, requesting £80,000 for a 10% equity stake. Three of the five Dragons — Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, and Sara Davies — each offered the full amount for a 20% stake. After Sara Davies declined to participate in a joint offer, Meaden and Jones agreed to split the investment equally, each contributing £40,000 for a 10% stake, resulting in a combined £80,000 for 20% equity.[8][9]

Following the broadcast, Waters said: "We're so thrilled to be working with Deborah and Peter. To have such titans of the industry come on board is incredible."[9]

Business growth

Following the Dragons' Den investment, Solar Buddies expanded its retail footprint substantially in both the United Kingdom and United States. The brand secured listings in Boots UK, Tesco (346 UK stores), Asda, and Morrisons; it also entered Target across more than 3,000 stores in the United States.[4][3]

By 2024, Solar Buddies had achieved £7 million in annual sales and had sold over two million applicators worldwide.[3] The company grew from its founding team to thirteen employees.[3]

In 2024, Solar Buddies was included in the FEBE (For Entrepreneurs, By Entrepreneurs) Growth 100, which identifies the fastest-growing founder-led privately owned businesses in the United Kingdom.[4] The brand has also appeared in Beauhurst's annual list of the fastest-growing companies in Wales.[10]

In October 2025, Waters and Aspland were featured speakers at Vodafone's business.connected Academy, held at the National Museum of Cardiff, where they spoke about scaling Solar Buddies from a school gate conversation to £7 million in global sales over fourteen years. Waters' advice to aspiring entrepreneurs at the event was: "It's only a mistake if you do it twice. If you do it once, it's a lesson. Celebrate the good times and normalise the difficult times."[3]

In 2025, Solar Buddies marked its tenth anniversary with a celebration held at the Parkway Hotel in Cwmbran. Hayley Parsons OBE, GoCompare founder and early investor, attended and addressed the founders directly: "You can come from nothing, work really hard and can achieve all of this. You've actually reached your initial targets that you set for yourselves and you've blown them out of the water." Waters reflected: "You get to the point where you think 'do you know what? I'm a businesswoman rocking it and I'm from Cwmbran.'"[7]

Public service and community work

Waters has served as a volunteer with The King's Trust (formerly The Prince's Trust) in South Wales, working with young entrepreneurs in the organisation's enterprise programmes. The King's Trust Wales described her as bringing "passion, transparency and willingness to give back" to sessions with young business founders in Cardiff.[5]

Waters and Aspland were championed as entrepreneurs by the Rt Hon Nick Thomas-Symonds, Member of Parliament for Torfaen, through the MPHeroes programme recognising outstanding businesses in the Torfaen constituency.[11]

Recognition

  • Shortlisted, Retail Entrepreneur of the Year, Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2023[6]
  • FEBE Growth 100, 2024 — fastest-growing founder-led businesses in the United Kingdom[4]
  • Wales Fast Growth 50[5]
  • UK Fast Growth Index[5]
  • Featured speaker, Vodafone business.connected Academy, National Museum Cardiff, October 2025[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Two Cwmbran entrepreneurs to pitch their business on BBC's Dragons' Den". Cwmbran Life. 30 March 2023. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  2. ^ a b c "Welsh Entrepreneurs Secure Investment from Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones". Business News Wales. 11 April 2023. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Cwmbran mums behind Solar Buddies inspire at Vodafone's Cardiff Academy". Wales 247. 22 October 2025. Retrieved 2025-11-01.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Solar Buddies Named Among Fastest Growing Businesses". Business News Wales. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  5. ^ a b c d "Laura Waters – Co-Founder & Director, Solar Buddies Ltd". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2025-11-01.
  6. ^ a b "Laura Waters & Kelli Aspland – Solar Buddies". Great British Entrepreneur Awards. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  7. ^ a b c "Solar Buddies celebrate tenth anniversary in Cwmbran". Cwmbran Life. 19 May 2025. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  8. ^ a b "Dragon's Den's Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones invest £80,000 in Cwmbran business". Cwmbran Life. 6 April 2023. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  9. ^ a b "Dragons' Den success for Welsh entrepreneurs with investment from Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones". Inkl / Wales Online. 6 April 2023. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  10. ^ "The Fastest-Growing Companies in Wales 2025". Beauhurst. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  11. ^ "MPHeroes – Kelli Aspland & Laura Waters". MPHeroes. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
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