Our last entrepreneur, 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 presentation of the popular roasted plantain. She made an emotionally compelling argument that exploited the consumers’ desire for hygienically prepared and packaged local delicacy. The roasted plantain, popular known as bolle in Nigeria is a common snack enjoyed by people of various classes.

She had conducted a survey where 200 respondents were polled in Victoria Island, and based on her findings she discovered that the working class people who wanted to buy roasted plantain where reluctant to do so from the roadside vendors. Her package made the dragons’ mouth water, and they compelled her to present her package for tasting. Well, like they say the shortest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And Philomena felt that she would be able to get through to the dragons’ pocket through the taste of her variety of plantain delicacies.

Chris Parkes seemed to like the taste of her dish, but felt her profit margin was not worth the effort. Tokunboh Ismael and John Momoh opted out. Femi Tejuoso was unwilling to declare his stance until Ibukun Awosika made her summation.

Ibukun Awosika was impressed with the entrepreneur’s passion and felt strongly that she would effectively run one of her pet projects. Ibukun Awosika made an entirely different proposition to this entrepreneur – a proposition that had very little to do with her proposed business idea. Ibukun Awosika offered this entrepreneur 1.5 million naira for 30% of this business. Essentially, Ibukun Awosika, following the rules of the den wanted to make sure that the entrepreneur got the full amount she was requesting, but insisted that the new business she was proposing was going to be larger than was the entrepreneur had pitched. At this point Femi Tejuoso declared his interest, and was willing to take 30% from whatever Ibukun Awosika was getting.

In the end, Femi Tejuoso and Ibukun Awosika jointly offered Philomena 1.5 million naira to kick off this new business; Philomena accepted the deal of which she was to own 30%.

She shook hands with Femi Tejuoso and Ibukun Awosika.

–Den Sweeper

5th Entrepreneur:

Richard Usman, another ICT specialist came looking for 16 million naira in exchange for 30% equity. Richard’s idea was to market automatic integrated home systems which would allow for doors, curtains, and electrical appliances to be activated and controlled by the human voice. His presentation revealed the beauty of the idea. He convinced the dragons that the technology was very user friendly, in the sense that it could be programmed to recognize voice-commands from even people who pronounced words with a heavy influence of their mother tongue.

The idea was novel and captivating, but the dragons were uncomfortable with investing because they felt there was a need to investigate the technology- since the entrepreneur was not armed with a prototype neither was he able to offer a demonstration of the product.

The dragons opted out.

6th Entrepreneur 

The next entrepreneur, Steven Obioma Akidi – a catfish farmer from Umahia Abia state was looking for 12 million naira to expand his business. He based his pitch on his desire to improve productivity in his farm with the funds he is asking for. He wanted to reposition his farm and take it to the next level. He 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. Femi Tejuoso was concerned about the mortality rate of the fish. Ibukun Awosika also wanted to know how this entrepreneur utilized the profit he made from the last farming season – but the entrepreneur revealed the fact that he invested the money in the purchase and supply of livestock feed to customers around Umahia. This proved to be a fatal flaw for his business, because according to Ibukun Awosika, if the entrepreneur was passionate about expanding his business, he ought to have reinvested his profit into the farm and not in a different venture.

The dragons opted out.

3rd Entrepreneur

With an ICT-based business idea geared towards servicing small businesses in Nigeria, OLUMEFU TOYIN has come to the den seeking 2 million naira in exchange for 30% equity. His opening pitch was neither persuasive nor compelling. He posited that most ICT firms targeted the large conglomerates and ignored the small businesses, but his business was strategically designed to cater to the needs of small businesses. 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.

His presentation did not elicit the dragons’ interest. He had also committed one of the cardinal sins of business presentations. He came to the den to seek 2 million naira from shrewd investors, dressed in very casual clothes and slippers. The dragons rebuked him for such a callous representation of himself and his business. Femi Tejuoso advised, “If you’re going to an investor to get 2 million naira, you must try to look like someone who can manage 2 million naira”

On that note the dragons opted out.

4^{th Entrepreneur}

GEORGE HEFZIBAR, an “innovative livestock entrepreneur” was next in the den. He is seeking 4.5 million naira in exchange for 30% equity in his snail farm. GEORGE seemed to have impressed the dragons with his nice-looking suit, but will he be able to convince these shrewd businessmen and women that his business idea was worth their investment? Half-way into his presentation, the dragons discovered that George had designed innovative snail-farming equipment for the racking and shelving of snails-they felt would be a more viable business than the proposed expansion of the snail farm. The dragons advised this entrepreneur to get a patent for his “racks system”, produce the racks for commercial purposes. The dragons felt strongly that there was a better business opportunity in the production of the racks. But the entrepreneur was stubborn, and according to Chris Parkes, he was paranoid about his racks system and confused about his entire business priority. With GEORGE choosing not to commercialize this innovation – the dragons opted out with the feeling that this entrepreneur was just passionate about his business, but lacked the business smarts to identify a viable business opportunity.

Tony Eboh, the first entrepreneur in episode 10 came to pitch the idea of an elite sports bar – with strategically empathized on soccer. He was seeking 30 million naira, and was offering 60% equity. He explained that the idea behind the bar would be to create an atmosphere where soccer fans could meet, network, and discuss soccer. The bar has been designed to admit members only. His idea seemed to have captured the dragons’ interest – but the dragons wanted to know why he was basing customers’ admission into this bar on membership only.

Femi Tejuoso and Chris Parkes felt that the price Tony has placed on membership was too high, explaining that his competitors were more affordable – and with their reputation, and from the variety of products offered by his competition, it was the dragons’ opinion that his competitors were likely to attract more patronage.

However, Chris Parkes obviously interested in the idea made an investment of 10 million naira- requesting for 25% equity. 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. John Momoh’s interest had been kindled but somehow the entrepreneur was not able to convince him that his business was “the way to go”. Ibukun Awosika was emphatic with her position – she stressed that she would only invest if she was assured that Tony Eboh wasn’t going to manage the business. Tony Eboh couldn’t accept this condition.

The dragons opted out.

2^{nd Entrepreneur}

Teslim Owonikoko, a scientist and inventor was next in the den. He was seeking 26 million naira in exchange for 5% equity. He proudly announced himself as the recipient of the BEST INVENTOR IN NIGERIA award from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, and he was briefly congratulated by the dragons. However, he went on and on describing the chemical components of a bouquet of inventions and products he had assembled in the den. He came across as someone who took so much pride in his inventions, but John Momoh was curious as to why the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology had not funded the best inventor in Nigeria. In trying to explain, Teslim stated that he was not impressed by the government’s offer, and felt strongly that the dragons were more suitable investors.

But half way through his presentation it was still very unclear what this entrepreneur wanted from the dragons. The dragons wanted to know what he was going to do with the money he was asking for. They also wanted to know exactly was deal he was proposing. And basically, they wanted to know if his intention was to get their investment in order to develop one of the products to launch into the local market. But Teslim seemed more eager to ‘advertise’ his innovations one by one – frustrating the dragons every move to get clarity.

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. Tokunboh Ishmael tried to no avail to guide the entrepreneur towards getting to the agenda on ground. In the end, he seemed to have annoyed and frustrated the dragons. They all opted out of his proposition, but Ibukun Awosika in her classic mother-dragon role was not about to let this entrepreneur walk away without being taught the basic principle of business presentations. She decried his pride, recommending a very strong dose of humility; she rendered a lengthy but emotionally compelling career counsel to Teslim. According to Ibukun Awosika, the entrepreneur had products with high value but the pride and arrogance of an inventor would not let him get value for his innovations.

Teslim listened intently, apparently moved by Ibukun Awosika’s concern. He expressed his gratitude to the dragons as he humbly exited the den.