Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2011, when the backpack was a prototype and its inventor was looking for investors. The €75,000 investment and the planned €50 retail price are 2011 figures; readers should check whether the product ever reached the market.
Rafael Gallego, an entrepreneur from Barcelona, has presented a prototype backpack for the beach at the Museum of Ideas and Inventions of Barcelona, designed so that we don’t have to worry about being robbed while we are away from our belongings. The idea came to him when he saw a young man take a pair of sunglasses from someone else’s towel in the blink of an eye.
From that moment on, he began testing several prototypes until he arrived at the final design: a rigid backpack that can be anchored in the sand and locked with a key. This way, the swimmer can feel a little more at ease, since a would-be thief would have to apply 20 kilos of force to pull the backpack out of the sand.
The backpack is not 100% theft-proof, but at least it forces anyone who wants to steal something from it to make more of a “scene”.
Rafael has invested €75,000 in the prototype and is now looking for investors to take his product nationwide and possibly abroad.
We don’t know whether this idea will succeed, original as it is, because Rafael now faces competition from the town councils of coastal cities, which are installing lockers where holidaymakers can leave their belongings.
The backpack would retail at €50. Below is the video in which Rafael explains his business idea.
Further reading
- A profitable business idea related to occupational health
- Transformers: the business that begins when your car dies
- Business opportunities with “Dukan” diet food
- Business ideas to start this year
Featured image: Michael Coghlan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
