AN inventor from Astley Bridge is set to become Bolton's version of Richard Branson.

Sales of Imran Hakim's innovative iTeddy children's toy are forecast to reach £15 million worldwide this year.

His brand was thrust into the limelight after he secured funding from the business experts on BBC2 show Dragons' Den.

After becoming a massive Christmas success story it is now being taken to the next level by reaching the worldwide market Mr Hakim is a born businessman. He set up his first company repairing laptops at the age of15 and since then has developed a profitable optician's business.

His star is now rising at a meteoric rate following the invention of the iTeddy in 2005 and his Dragons' Den appearance in January 2007, where he secured the backing of Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, to the tune of £140,000.

Mr Hakim, aged 30, was born and raised on Blackburn Road, attending Smithills School and Bolton Sixth Form College before moving on to UMIST in Manchester to study optometry.

The iTeddy is set to make him rich, if, as predicted, sales of the toy reach £15 million across 45 to 50 countries around the world this year.

iTeddy is a teddy bear with a specially designed and patented MP4 player in its stomach, capable of streaming downloaded video content. It is proving a hit with children as young as two, who can play games or watch their favourite cartoons on it.

Securing the backing of the Dragons meant giving away 40 per cent of the business, but Mr Hakim says this was a neccessary sacrifice to allow him to roll out the product to a UK-wide, then global market.

With the money in place he secured an exclusive deal with Argos to sell the iTeddy across the UK.

Now, with that deal almost coming to an end, he has secured an international distribution deal with Vivid Imaginations and has seen huge demand for the product from toy companies across the world.

He said: "Vivid are our partners in delivering the product to market. We have licenses from the BBC, Sony and Warner to deliver children's content through our website iTeddy.com. When the Argos deal expires you should see it in stores up and down the country including Tesco, Harrods, Asda and Toys R Us."

He added: "We are hoping this is a rollercoaster ride that is going to continue. We have some good ideas to build upon the success of iTeddy in the UK last year, replicating that success worldwide. The next year is a huge year for us."

Although he might be going global, Mr Hakim's roots remain firmly in Bolton, the hub of his rapidly expanding empire is the top floor of a building above a garage in Halliwell Road.

He is passionate about keeping the business in his own community and helping local people and firms profit from his success.

He said: "A lot of the people I work with and the businesses I work with are located in this area. It's very convenient from that perspective, there is no need to move as there is a wealth of support and industry in this area. There is nothing that we need as a business to grow that isn't available from here."

While his focus is solely on expanding the business empire, his personal life has taken a back seat.

Mr Hakim does enjoy regular ski-ing holidays with friends and is a big Manchester United fan, but, as Bolton's female population should note, he is still free and single - and fast becoming the town's most eligible bachelor.