A toy-making business co-founded by a ten-year-old pupil of
Ballyshannon NS has been selected as a finalist in a national business competition,
writes Brian Byrne. William Alexander Toys, based in Timolin, is a father-and-son enterprise operated by
Ioannis Syrigos and his son
William, which is in the regional final for the
Innovative Family Business of the Year (Leinster) at the
2026 Family Business Awards, in association with Goodbody. The winner will be announced on Thursday, 5 November, at the Johnstown Estate in Enfield.
The enterprise, which gets its trading name from William’s first and middle names, designs and 3D prints toys, puzzles and stereograms in a home workshop. The products include several ‘fidget’ toys especially suitable for school sensory rooms, and the business has been approached by a commercial provider of such facilities to have William Alexander toys included in their equipment.
Meeting the young entrepreneur in his working environment can be somewhat overwhelming as he points around a range of high-tech equipment, blithely talking about the applications and merits of different 3D printers, laser engravers, and mould presses. The sense is that I’m listening to someone who has acquired degrees in electronics and engineering, more than a boy still with some years of primary school to finish.
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| William and his father. (Photo: Holst-Photography-Ireland.) |
William’s mechanical and entrepreneurial traits were obviously inspired by his father’s career as an engineer, academic, scientist, AI expert, explorer and businessman. Ioannis’s
Ancient Origins online magazine details interests and investigations and articles relating to archaeology, folklore, mythology, various scientific disciplines, and what are termed simply as ‘unexplained’ and ‘weird facts’.
William earned money for his first 3D printer by doing work for Ancient Origins. His earnings today come from selling William Alexander toys at local markets. He says he likes selling (“and I’m very good at it”). During my visit to Timolin, William’s printers were producing Halloween-themed toys, clearly getting ready for the market before the end-of-month festival.
He also showed an invention-in-progress, an electronic palm scanner that can tell fortunes. “It works,” he commented before putting it aside to explain the technique involved in turning photographs into personalised holographic images inside glass blocks.
The business has
a comprehensive website illustrating ‘Premium Toys for Extraordinary Kids’, with sections on Book Nooks, Sensory Treasures, Personalisation, and Dragons. That last is a series of collectibles for children (or adults who might be so inclined!) which are added to with new designs every month. There’s also a plan to devise an adventure game which will incorporate the dragons.
William muses about, at some future stage, bringing the enterprise to the attention of the Dragon’s Den equivalent in the family’s Greece homeland, for investment and scaling up. As it is, a friend in Greece with her own 3D printer is already manufacturing and selling William Alexander products there.
In the meantime, though, there’s finishing his years at Ballyshannon NS to be done, and consideration of further education. We’ll leave for another time his commentary on whether or not education will be overtaken and made redundant by AI, even before he reaches that stage …
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| William working on a sculptural wall hanging. (image: William Alexander Toys.) |
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| With the finished product. (image: William Alexander Toys.) |
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| William and his friend Marilena at a market. (image: William Alexander Toys.) |
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Some of the wide range of products produced at the workshop. (image: William Alexander Toys.)
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