Washington company wins £100,000 investment on Dragons’ Den TV show

Aug 6 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

AN ENTREPRENEUR who turned his £300 window cleaning round into a million-pound empire has revealed plans for national expansion after landing £100,000 on TV’s Dragons' Den.

Tony Earnshaw, 25, of Washington, will expand his industrial and commercial cleaning firm into London and Scotland with the help of TV ‘dragon’ Duncan Bannatyne, who has bought a 35% stake in the business.

BBC2 viewers last night saw Tony, alongside his sales manager and long-time friend Stephen Pearsons, woo the dragons with their pitch for investment into UK Commercial Cleaning. Ultimately, despite an offer from James Caan for a 50% stake in the firm, the pair shook hands with Bannatyne who has become an adopted son of the North East through his Darlington-based leisure business.

The £100,000 investment is the latest milestone in Mr Earnshaw’s remarkable rise to success in the last five years since he left his job as a wagon driver and bought a window cleaning company for £300.

As a 19-year-old, he quit his role at waste management company Biffa and proceeded to transform a window cleaning round for a handful of houses into a £6,000-a-month business in just six months.

He eventually sold the company and used the funds to set up UK Commercial Cleaning, which last year generated £370,000 in revenue and is on target to make £1.5m this year.