When all five Dragons show you the colour of their money, you’re doing something right. But you don’t have to take it and for now Amanda Jones and James Brown of Red Button Design have left the cash on the table.

The design company, which specialises in creating products for the humanitarian market, was offered £50,000 in exchange for 10% equity shared between the Dragons in 2007. The deal was agreed yet never completed due, Jones says, to T&Cs and receiving an award of £45,000 from Oxford’s Said Business School.

So why were the Dragons so interested? Jones’ design student business partner James Brown created an ingenious way to purify water on a large enough scale in developing countries to make a difference. The creation was named ROSS (Reverse Osmosis Sanitation System) and while the patented product has since changed a fair deal the end-concept remains intact.

Here at cmypitch we have but a sketchy handle on the more intimate laws of physics, but in layman’s terms the Glasgow-based company’s water transportation, sanitation and storage device has the ability to turn 50 litres of contaminated or unsafe water into drinking water when covering a distance of just over a kilometre – pure gold for countries dealing with disaster, emergencies or a lack of access to safe water.

According to the UN figures, an estimated 1.2 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, meaning Red Button’s creation could be a lifesaver. Indeed, 10,000 people a day are estimated to die from preventable illnesses. As compelling propositions go you’d look long and hard to find one with more market potential.

No wonder Red Button’s won a clutch of awards or commendations, including the 2009 National Laboratory Service’s Innovation Award, which is judged using a strict set of scientific criteria. It also secured a runners-up spot in the John Logie Baird “Young Innovators” Award, a £7,000 grant from NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), and a Wall Street Journal Innovation Award.

Since appearing on Dragons’ Den the two students – Jones has now graduated – have been working hard on the execution of the idea and development of the business model. Part of this was achieved after attending Doug Richard’s SchoolforStartups.co.uk the one-day bootcamp’s run by the straight-talking entrepreneur, investor and former Dragon.

Distribution will be key to whether it takes off, especially with an expression of interest in buying 50,000 units already in and a plan to sell to NGOs (Non Government Organisations) and Aid Organisations. The pair are in the process of raising finance again with a new business model, with a small initial tranche of £70,000 to road test the product in Ghana.

Uniquely Jones and Brown plan to split equity between angel investors, themselves and an alliance of worker-owned manufacturing plants. These co-operatives would receive the key elements of the system as a kit – pump, filter, deformable plastic bags, tank etc – and adapt them to the needs of the local communities in which they are deployed. The approach would also protect against abuse and remove much of the complicated administration. All sounds like a plan. Watch this space.