Remarkable roles: Inspiration comes out of parental frustration

Exasperation with kids who walk around with their shoe laces undone is an everyday parenting niggle but for Peter Greedy is was a problem looking for a solution.

Having faced this problem he went on to devise a system for fastening laces which will work with any type of footwear. Named Greepers it works by simply pulling a release cord to loosen the laces and pulling on two loops, that look like a traditional bow, to re-tighten it.

Greedy qualified in optometry from City University in 1987 and worked in independent practice before joining the Ronald Brown Group. He became a practice manager, pre-reg supervisor and contact lens buyer for the company before moving into a professional services role with Bausch & Lomb. Here his career developed across training and IT including a stint in the US. ‘There’s a serial inventor inside me because I’m constantly fixing things,’ he says, adding that he may have a dozen or so other ideas that could be developed once Greepers gets off the ground.