Ibrahim Jairo was the fourth entrepreneur in the den, he came with a proposition to establish a computer gaming arcade in Abuja, and for some reason he was looking for 9, 995, 000 (nine million, nine hundred and ninety-five thousand naira). This figure elicited some chuckles from the dragons, but the idea raised serious copyright issues. Moreover, during Ibrahim’s presentation, he’d stated that Abuja was a very large city that needed an arcade like his, but according to him he conducted a market survey of this big city by distributing questionnaires, which ironically attracted only 50 respondents of which 20% of them were 10 to 15 year olds. But he was convinced he had a market, and that 50 persons were conclusive enough to base the feasibility report of his target market upon. He was targeting kids, and his price was to be set at 450 naira for ten minutes, while his unique selling point was based on the fact that his arcade will serve as a social networking centre for young people, and also encourage kids to compete against one another. His confidence was remarkable, but couldn’t withstand the legal loopholes in his business plan.

“What’s the copyright law governing the use of computer games for commercial purposes?” asked John Momoh, and Ibrahim had no satisfactory response.

The business may have been necessary for teenagers in Abuja, but it was also necessary to understanding the necessity of abiding by existing copyright laws.

The dragons opted out.

The fifth entrepreneurs, Frank and Erastus wanted 4.5 million naira to give up 20% equity in their business, “Nigerian Sales Genie”, a site where people can come buy and sell products and services. Basically, they were proposing to set up an online classified advert portal. But their demo was not impressive at all, and the dragons felt that had misrepresented the entire idea. But probing further the dragons discovered that the entrepreneurs had nothing on ground yet. They had no domain name. They had no database, and had not IT background to jumpstart the technology required to manage a business such as this one.

The dragons opted out, but John Momoh felt compelled to give them a few marketing tips, “you should have your website running…and offer free classified adverts for now to generate traffic and interest in your business…”

“I think you have a good business idea, but I don’t just think you guys can do it…” Alexander Amosu.

The sixth entrepreneur, Babajide Oyeleye came to raise 18 million naira for “Emergency Kits for Cars” in exchange of 40% equity in the business. He basically came to sell towing ropes assembled in Nigeria, to help motorists when they experience vehicle breakdowns. But the business had no unique selling point, and had no trade secret that could protect the investors by preventing anyone else from producing the same rope. They also had no certification or testimonial from any monitoring organization like the Road Safety Commission of Nigeria. Babajide claimed to have been testing the market for the past two years, a ‘market-test’ that Chris Parkes felt had yielded no positive progress in the business so far.

“Anyone can do this business” the dragons exclaimed, and they all opted out.