A case of Plantain, Passion, Paranoia in Dragon’s DenÂ

The last entrepreneur on episode 10 of Dragons Den Nigeria, Philomena Izuka came seeking 1.5 million naira in exchange for 30% equity in her fast food business -House of Plantain. Her idea was to repackage the popular roasted plantain, bolle.

She had conducted a survey on the business venture and proved to the dragons that she was ready to hit it off. Awosika was impressed with the entrepreneur’s passion and with Tejuoso, jointly offered her 1.5 million naira to commence business to her delight.

Tony Eboh, the first entrepreneur came to pitch the idea of an elite sports bar which would create an atmosphere where soccer fans could meet, network, and discuss soccer. He was seeking 30 million naira and offering 60% equity.

Chris Parkes made an investment of 10 million naira, requesting for 25% equity despite earlier reservations about the membership fees. But the entrepreneur was still 20 million naira short, and without having been able to convince the other dragons to come onboard he lost out.

The second entrepreneur was Teslim Owonikoko, a scientist and inventor who came seeking 26 million naira in exchange for 5% equity. Proudly announcing himself as the recipient of the Best Inventor in Nigeria award from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, he went on and on describing the chemical components of a bouquet of inventions and products he had assembled in the den.

He was not able to communicate his demands or needs effectively to the dragons, and this development seemed very numbing and unwholesome to the dragons. In the end, he seemed to have annoyed and frustrated the dragons and they all opted out of his proposition but not without words of advice from Awosika on the basic principles of business presentations. With an ICT-based business idea geared towards servicing small businesses in Nigeria, Olumefu Toyin, the third entrepreneur came to the den seeking 2 million naira in exchange for 30% equity. His idea was to partner with large software manufacturers as a reseller of their products, then resell these products to small business for a commission.

He did not get a deal however, owing to the fact that he had made a poor presentation of not only himself by his dressing but the business idea he had come to pitch.

The fourth entrepreneur, George Hefzibar, an "innovative livestock entrepreneur" was next in the den and came seeking 4.5 million naira in exchange for 30% equity in his snail farm.

The dragons discovered that he had designed innovative snail-farming equipment for the racking and shelving of snails and felt it would be a more viable business than the proposed expansion of the snail farm and promptly advised him to get a patent for his "racks system" and produce the racks for commercial purposes.

George indicated no interest in taking the racks system to another level and the dragons of course, opted out with the feeling that he was just passionate about his business, but lacked the smarts to identify a viable business opportunity.

The fifth entrepreneur, Richard Usman, another ICT specialist came looking for 16 million naira in exchange for 30% equity in a business of marketing automatic integrated home systems which would allow for doors, curtains, and electrical appliances to be activated and controlled by the human voice.

But the dragons were not fully convinced about the technology, feeling it needed to be investigated more, and the absence of a prototype did not help matters at all. They all opted out. 

The sixth entrepreneur, Steven Obioma Akidi - a catfish farmer from Umahia came looking for 12 million naira to expand his business. He based his pitch on his desire to improve productivity in his farm and was going to acquire 6 plots of land – stocking 60,000 cat fish juveniles, improving their weight to 1kg in six months, with a guaranteed production of 48, 000 kg of catfish in 6 months.

The dragons however, opted out here because he has not been able to plough back into his business, profit made from earlier ventures.