Conor Lynch impressed in the Dragons' Den.

Offaly teen bags Dragons' Den bursary

Seventeen-year-old Conor Lynch isn’t sitting his Leaving Cert until next year, but he already has a profitable business on the go.

Conor Lynch Woodturning was set up shortly after Conor used his confirmation money to buy a lathe. Impressing in Junior Dragons’ Den - shown on RTE last Sunday night - has allowed him to swap that lathe for a bigger and better model, and now he’s on the road to an even more successful business.

Conor has known of his Dragons’ Den success since it was filmed in late February. Delighted to be able to talk about it now, he told the Offaly Independent he’s had a number of meetings with dragon Peter Casey since, who’s helping him with his business website - www.conorlynchwoodturning.com.

As well as mentoring, Conor walked away from the den with a €2,000 bursary. After trading in his old lathe, that’s allowed him to buy a better model that means he can take on bigger commissions.

“The new lathe is invaluable,” Conor explained, adding that it hasn’t had an idle minute of late either. “I’ve gotten a lot of orders out of the Dragons’ Den,” he said. “The advertising is just invaluable.”

The fifth year student in Tullamore College said he won’t be forgetting the Dragons’ Den experience anytime soon either.

“Every if I hadn’t got the bursary I’d be delighted to say I got on to Dragons’ Den,” he said.

“It was a different experience than I thought it would be. I did my pitch and there was about a minute where nobody said anything. I thought I’d done something wrong, but it turns out that’s normal and they were just thinking of their questions.”