Erik Smyth isn’t satisfied with a 12,000% sales rise and a workforce that’s increased from two to 25 this year.
The chief executive behind the Dew range of cleaning products sees no reason why his Dundee company can’t eventually make hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
Mr Smyth formed Ecoanolytes in 2018 after discovering the cleaning properties of electrolysed water which can be 30 times the power of bleach while remaining safe to drink if accidentally swallowed.
After initially looking to market the product to industry he launched the consumer facing Dew brand of disinfectant and cleaning products. It was an instant success.
“Initially we worked with fish companies to look at using the product as part of food processing – we thought we could extend the shelf life and make it suitable for export to the US,” Mr Smyth said.
“The trials were positive, the length of existing supplier contracts proved to be a barrier.
“So we launched the consumer brand with an emphasis on our environmentally friendly ethos and the use of refills. The products just took off.
“People were buying online and leaving glowing reviews – by default it became our main focus.”
Mr Symth claims his cleaning products are lower cost, more effective and kinder to the skin compared with most found on supermarket shelves, such as alcohol-based sanitisers.
Since then the business has created a range of misting devices to help sanitise schools, businesses and public spaces.
Mr Smyth said: “It’s one step to make sure people’s hands and surfaces are clean but the virus is in the air, people breathe it in.
“The active ingredient in our products is produced naturally by our bodies and poses no danger if breathed in or inadvertently consumed. We have some white label agreements with other companies so we can get the technology out to as wide an audience as we can.
Dundee disinfectant-maker cleans up 12000% sales increase during pandemic
“Businesses now understand they must accept ongoing responsibility for infection control and this is a way they can reduce costs without reducing the effectiveness.”
Customers include St Andrews University, SPAR, Abertay University, Parks of Hamilton and bus firm Moffat and Williamson.
This month it moved into new premises at West Gourdie Industrial Estate in Dundee with new equipment more than trebling production from 400 to 1,400 litres an hour.
“I think we are just scratching the surface at the moment – we know that within five years the company will be 100 times the size,” Mr Smyth added.
“We are working on several exciting projects including a US company that is looking at our products for airports.
“We are also working to help people back to places of worship with a company that makes walkway tunnels that decontaminate as they travel through them.
“And we’ve been supplying free products to some schools in Tayside and frontline workers.”
