Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412100033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-19 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHANIE STOUGHTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The product: canisters of pepper spray tucked into 1-pound jogging weights. The weights, which also include a reflective material on the outside, make it easier for the nation's powerwalkers and runners to defend themselves against Bruno the unneighborly dog or the ski-masked attacker jumping out of the bushes.
Larry Washington and his brother, Kenny, hope their product will be their ticket to big business. They may get their chance.
The brothers, who created CounterSTRIKE Inc. in Virginia Beach, showed off their invention at the Richmond Centre on Thursday, hoping for a chance to get their weights on QVC.
"It's worth a fortune," said Larry. QVC, a home-shopping network, reaches 50 million homes nationwide and 17 million internationally.
Buyers from West Chester, Pa.-based QVC Inc. are whipping through 50 states, picking 20 products from each, as part of the home-shopping network's "QVC's Quest for America's Best - The 50 in 50 Tour."
QVC will broadcast live from each state, showcasing the winners' inventions, crafts and designs. Virginia's turn will come in a two-hour segment to be aired Feb.18 from the College of William and Mary.
The Washingtons think they've got a good shot. After all, entrepreneurship runs in the family.
"My grandfather invented a modification to the peanut picker," said Larry, the older brother and president of CounterSTRIKE. "He also invented the rubber-soled shoe."
"Which he didn't patent," Kenny added.
The QVC contest was supported by the Virginia Department of Commerce because it's a good way to promote small business in the state, said Secretary of Commerce Robert T. Skunda.
Skunda was there Thursday, tasting, touching and harrumphing in approval at the Virginia products, which ranged from computer software to help people find their true talents and careers to pink and chocolate-chip bagels.
Included were a line of tools and accessories for making small repairs and decorating at home, marketed as Decorator Helper's, by Connie Bundy of Bristol."Ooooh, that's good," gushed Skunda, after downing a plastic shot glass of Sting Ray Spicy Bloody Mary Mix with ocean clam mix (no vodka included). The potion comes from Pamela Barefoot's company, Blue Crab Bay Company Inc., based in Onancock along the Eastern Shore.
A few yards away from Barefoot's display was one company's answer to the outdoorsman who wants almost everything from a long coat to an all-weather tent to a sleeping bag in less than 4 pounds.
"We call this the Freedom Shelter," said Dick Haislip, senior vice president of Ecotat Systems Company of Virginia Beach, pointing to a yellow contraption on the floor. "When you're done using it as a tent, you can be wearing it."
Not everyone will get the opportunity to appear on QVC's two-hour Virginia show. But there were other opportunities: the banks. The state called them to let them know creativity was coming.
Jeff Raihall, a commercial lender with Richmond-based Central Fidelity Bank, said he found several products he liked. But all the scouting, he said jokingly, was actually making him turn a different kind of green.
Envious?
"Very much so," Raihall laughed. "I have very little creativity or artistic ability."
by CNB