Photo courtesy Karymi Facebook

By Erika Rolling

Local Entrepenuer

Local entrepeneur hoping to make appearance on Dragon’s Den

Apr 25, 2022 | 2:15 PM

A new way of covering floor ducts in the home to make them child and pet-proof has been created by a Grande Prairie woman.

After getting tired of her two children playing with floor registers and not being able to find any solution without permanently damaging the flooring; Michele McCrea decided to make something herself.

McCrea has been working on her product GuardaVent since 2019, which was finally launched to the public in October 2021.

“I had to first of all design it and then I had to find somebody who could make me a mold to manufacture it and also get a patent for it.”

McCrea received a grant for her patent through the GPRIN (Grande Prairie Regional Innovation Network) organization to help pay for her mold and patent, which she now owns.

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She pitched her idea to Dragon’s Den in 2021 and got a call back for an audition in February with a producer of the show.

“What they (Dragon’s Den) do is kinda get together; all the producers and decide who actually makes it on the show. So if I make it there I’ll know this week and if not I’m just going to keep applying every year,”

If McCrea’s invention is chosen, she would fly out to Toronto to pitch GuardaVent to well-known Canadian investors.

McCrea has made the Top 100 for Canada’s Total Mom Pitch and Startup Canada’s Global 2022 Pitch Competition as well.

“To make it to the top 100 is still huge for me just because there were so many businesses that applied to both of these… I broke down when I found out about Canada’s Total Mom Pitch because it makes you feel so validated in your idea,”

Since the product launched, McCrea says it has been selling pretty steadily on her website and on Amazon.

“I would love to get it into some retail stores and grow it that way and sort of have a five-year plan in the back of my head to expand and make more innovative child-proofing products.”

Photo courtesy Karymi Facebook