the dragons den

The Dragon’s Den

This essay is about five entrepreneurs (the Dragons) which all star in the BBC2 series, Dragon’s Den. They are; Richard Farleigh, Deborah Meaden, Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones and Theo Phaphitis. Dragon’s Den has just finished their third series.

Dragon’s Den is a show about ordinary people with ideas which they think could make them rich. Each would be entrepreneur pitches their business idea for financial funding to the dragons. The entrepreneurs need to use their persuasion, reasoning and presentation skills to find backing in their business. In return for funding the entrepreneur will offer an equity which is a share of the company. At the beginning the entrepreneur states how much money he wants. If he doesn’t get that exact money, he would leave with nothing.

RICHARD FARLEIGH

Richard Farleigh has a very interesting background. He was born in a small town in Victoria, the son of a violent and alcoholic sheep shearer. At the age of three, he was put into care with his ten brothers and sisters. Farleigh was described as “backward” by one teacher but went on to win a scholarship to the University of New South Wales, where he gained a first class degree in economics. He quickly forged a successful banking career in Australia and Bermuda and had made enough money by the age of 34 to “retire” to Monte Carlo. Since then he has been semi retired operating as a business ‘angel’, backing new early stage companies mainly in the United Kingdom. Richard plays chess as a hobby, and is an internationally ranked player who has represented Bermuda and Monaco at the chess Olympics.

Richard is a new dragon who joined this series. He is an Australian multi millionaire and has possibly invested in more new UK companies than any other British investor. When he invests in a firm he checks the technology, the competition, customer endorsements and management teams. Richard says: "What's exciting about Dragons' Den is the opportunity to come into contact with new entrepreneurs with innovative fresh ideas and hopefully uncover the next big thing!” A small amount of the companies which he is backing currently are Afa Systems, Ceravision, Mathengine, Palmchip and Vocalis. He first made his millions by trading the world’s financial market. The business markets he is involved in currently are; Software, biotechnology, different diseases and conditions, semiconductors, retail, Nanotechnology, food scanning, radiation detecting, drug discovery and research, mobile antennas and electro mechanical devices. Some of these are Oxford spin outs. Richard has also written a book called Taming The Lion – 100 Secret Strategies For Investing. In this he has ten headings each with ten rules some of his rules are; Fear the market, Respect the market not the experts, Manage and embrace risk, Assess risk and then double it, You are unlikely to out analyse the analysts, Good products don’t always sell, A price is an average of possibilities, Do not use price targets or time limits, Know when to stay out of the market and Negotiation is an art.

DEBORAH MEADEN

Deborah Meaden, born in February 1959, is a British multi millionairess who launched her very own glass and ceramics export company a while after completing Business College before setting up one of the first Stefanel

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DEBORAH MEADEN

Fashion franchises in the fashion franchises in the United Kingdom. The first thing she done before she opened her own company, was getting a job as a sales room model in a fashion house; and a few months later, she moved to Italy. After a few successful businesses in leisure and retail, Deborah became the Managing Director of her family’s holiday park business – Weststar Holidays. She then acquired the major shareholding in a management buyout and later sold the company in a deal worth thirty three million, while keeping a twenty three percent of the business. She still remains as an active role at Weststar but is using more time to find good investment opportunities, the first of which has been a market research company. Deborah was also listed amongst the United Kingdom’s top 50 Female Entrepreneurs 2005. Deborah says: "It can be difficult to find investment for a new business, particularly one which is highly innovative or breaks new ground. Dragons' Den offers a great opportunity to new entrepreneurs and I'm really looking to finding some exciting new businesses in which to invest my money."

DUNCAN BANNATYNE

Duncan Bannatyne was brought up in Clydebank where he suffered relative poverty. He joined the navy while still in his teens before being dishonourably discharged for almost throwing a senior officer of a vessel. He spent his twenties moving from job to job, he went to the island of Jersey where he met his first wife. He then moved to Northern England. He bought an ice cream van for £450. This expanded to four vans with a turnover of £300,000. He sold this and founded a fitness club due to an experience with a leg injury. Now he has more than sixty health clubs called Bannatyne’s. It is the largest independently owned health club operator in the UK and offers state of the art facilities. Since then he has opened up a bar, a hotel and is starting housing. For housing, he has got planning permision to build. He is building 115 houses and apartments altogether in Stockton–on–tees, Dumfries, Mansfield and Chafford.

His estimated worth is over 170 million pounds. He is also going to be married again soon and has two children from his ex wife and four children with his fiancee. Duncan also likes to spend time with his family or doing his hobbies which are running, climbing, water skiing and scuba diving. He spends time working with charitable organisations, such as UNICEF and Scottish International Relief. He also established the Bannatyne Hospice for Children with HIV and AIDS in Romania. Duncan has also written a book called ‘Anyone Can Do It’. It tells us about the extraordinary tale of from rags to riches. Duncan holds an OBE and was recently awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from Glasgow Caledonian University for services to business and charity. He was also awarded North Region Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 and Master Entrepreneur Of The Year 2003 for the North Region.

PETER JONES

Peter Jones was born in 1966 in the county of Berkshire in the United Kingdom. He went to a private school which he ran away from many times and walk three miles just to see his Dad in his office in Windsor. He did not enjoy going to a private school, even though his parents worked really hard so that they could send him there. At the age of eight he left and went to state schools, finishing his education at the age of eighteen in Windsor Boys School. His parents always worked hard and he and his older sister never went without but he always wanted a lot more, and one day become a multi millionaire. He got this dream of becoming a multi millionaire by fantasising in the leather swivel chair in his Dad’s office. His first business was when he was sixteen after completing the Lawn Tennis Association’s coaching examinations. He set up his own tennis coaching school. This combined his two favourite things, sport and economics. Having such success with his business in these early years, gave him a thirst for more. During his early twenties he set up a computer business and making large amount of money, allowing him to buy a nice house, a BMW, a Porsche and of course, a lot of money to spend. But through a combination of circumstances and personal mistakes, he learnt the hard way when a few major customers went out of business themselves which caused his business to shut down as well. He tried making a business in computer support as well as opening up his own bar and restaurant. This, he said was a mistake as it was a costly part of his life. It was a bad decision, opening a business on which he knew nothing about. At twenty eight years of age, he was broke and was without his house or his cars. He decided to join a large Corporate, Siemens, and within just twelve months he was running the business in the United Kingdom.

With a suitable background, he opened up a mobile telecommunication business. In 1998 he founded the Phone International Group. The core of the business today runs under the name of Data Select Ltd. It was worth 14 million by the end of the first year and 44 million by the second. He has made several companies since founding the Group, including Generation Telecom, which was sold for millions, just two years after opening. The Group was recognised as the 13th fastest growing business in 2003. This followed being called the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2001. In 2005 the Group turnover was 134 million pounds and has generated revenue of 200 million.

If you have visited his website, you would know that he refers himself as an ultrapreneur. This means, according to his site, ‘a radical spirit whose restless pursuit of innovative business excellence is unbounded; recognised as a super-heroic leader of hearts and mind. Engages in ultraprising.’ Peter now has a large portfolio of businesses. Such as five telecommunications companies, a business service company, a publishing company, a TV show and two leisure companies. He is also writing a book and is still adding finishing touches. Peter also has his own charity called Forgotten Children.

THEO PAPHITIS

Theo Paphitis was born in Limmassol, Cyprus, 1959. He moved to England when he was six. He attended the local comprehensive school where they failed to detect his dyslexia. He first started his entrepreneur activities when he opened a school tuck shop at the age of fifteen. When he was sixteen his career started as a tea boy / filling clerk with Lloyds of London Insurance Brokers. At eighteen he worked as a sales assistant for Watches of Switzerland. At the age of twenty he moved into finance, specialising in turnarounds, setting up his own company at twenty three. In the following years he has bought and turned around Movie Media Sports, Partners, La Senza, Contessa and Rymans. During this time he spent eight years as chairman at Millwall F.C. He was also Director of the Football League and FA Councillor. His worth is estimated to be 125 million pounds. Theo lives with his wife in Surrey. He has five children and two grandchildren.

Ryman and Partners are both stationary shops which supply a wide variety of products. Ryman was aquired in 1995 and currently has ninety two shops nationwide. Partners was aquired in 2001 and has 87 shops nationwide. Rymans also sells office equipment such as faxes and printers. Some shops even sell office furniture and mobile phones. La Senza and Contessa are both lingerie shops. La Senza has 77 shops in UK, nine in Ireland, 11 franchises, 17 concessions within Debehnams and three concessions in Northern Ireland. La Senza was sold in July this year to Lion Capital and still has minority shareholding. Contessa has 71 stores throughout England and Wales. Theo also owns Red Letter Days with Peter Jones (fellow dragon) and this was aquired in August 2005. Theo alaso has five golden rules for start up success:

Cash is all, Work out the what-ifs, Common sense is not common, Don’t scrimp on technology and Don’t let things stagnate.