in Small Business
Issue No. 5 - April/June 2002
Greenwell picks up US order
It’s just about as simple as the wheel. A collar of tough, 100% reprocessed plastic clips around sapling trees at ground level when they are planted. This Greenwell Waterwell then holds irrigation water where it’s needed to soak into the young plant’s root structure.
A catchy notion for home gardners, this solution is worth millions to local government in labour and materials costs.
Adelaide inventor Brian Measday conceived the Greenwell as a way to irrigate his tomatoes, but soon saw opportunity beyond his own garden. With help from expert friends Neil Reynolds (plastics engineer) and Mario Niesingh (agri—scientist) Brian developed a protectable prototype.
Recognition was almost instantaneous. Greenwell was a finalist in the Yellow Pages Small Business of the Year awards 1997, but since then Brian has struggled through five years of hard development work that proves some salient points for inventors. Success is not automatic. Brian’s energy and willingness to get involved in marketing was crucial.
Brian made the early marketing runs himself, carrying sample product to dawn meetings at council works depots. Council uptake sustained the project; today, dozens of councils Australia—wide use Greenwell. The City of Port Phillip in Victoria found a 20 per cent increase in the survival rate of its plantings. The City of Adelaide has been able to cut sapling irrigation rounds from five per week to three and has eliminated runoff wastage...
