DRAGONS DEN EPISODE 8 THE SCOOP MY TAKE!!! September 18, 2008

According to the dragons den sweeper’s diary

“Students of martial arts are taught to FOCUS, to CONCENTRATE their energies towards every dynamic challenge, because victory hardly smiles on scattered efforts. In business, the technique absolute concentration is paramount in obtaining the desired result and overcoming every obstacle present in the journey to successful achievements. Upholding the most elementary technique required for business success, the dragons return in episode 8 like the wise business tacticians that they are, guiding the entrepreneurs through the basic principles of focus and concentration of skills, energy, and efforts to the successful actualization of one particular goal at a time. We watched Chris Parkes, John Momoh, Ibukun Awosika, Femi Tejuoso, and Tokunboh Ishmael as they lit the den with the fire of their business wisdom.

Capitalizing on the booming fashion industry, and the increasing desire by women to look attractive, our first entrepreneur for episode 8 was the fashionably dressed microbiologist, Ayobola Adediji. She came to pitch a “one-stop-beauty place” to the dragons. Her idea was to combine a beauty spa, hair salon, a pedicure and manicure clinic, and a make-up shop in one big beauty mall.

Ibukun Awosika seemed to have warmed up to Ayobola immediately, complimenting her nice suit. Half way into her presentation, she revealed her plans to acquire one plot of land, of which she would lease out one-half to a developer, and build her beauty place on the other half. But the dragons soon became uncomfortable with her projections. She had stated earlier that she was buying the full plot of land for 6.5 million naira, whereas she expected to generate an income of 10 million by leasing one-half to a developer. Femi Tejuoso could not see the logic in this – he wondered why the developer would pay her 10 million naira for half a plot for 10 years when he can buy a full plot next door for just 6.5 million naira.

Tokunboh Ishmael and Ibukun Awosika seemed to like the idea. Though they couldn’t invest at the moment, but they encouraged the entrepreneur to fine-tune her plan and forge ahead.

“Get my details from the producers, I’d like to spend time with you (to discuss this business further)” Tokunboh Ishmael offered as her farewell words. “

Great idea as a one shop stop beauty place, however, what I find missing here is the whole concept behind the beauty place. Perhaps she should start small or is she now in the real estate business? It just did not strike me as though she were trying to make money from the beauty biz but through leasing out the other half to the developer. Why in the world would a developer want to lease from you? Well I do think the one stop beauty place would be viable business because women in Nigeria are fascinated with beauty.
Case in the point all the cosmetics lines coming out and the rate at which mary kay has become part of a lot of women in Nigeria’s daily lives. Okay enough of my rant today, what is your take on this readers?

DRAGONS DEN NIGERIA THE SCOOP MY TAKE!! July 29, 2008

These three entrepreneurs listed below peaked by interest.

“The entrepreneur, Modupe was a classic case of what an entrepreneur should never do in front of investors. She walked into the den, fidgeting with a piece of paper in her hands. She read her name and business details out of the paper, and stuttered through her description of the services her company, “Whispers of Love” rendered. Femi Tejuoso was the first dragon to state his dissatisfaction with her lack of poise and composure warning her that she could never inspire the confidence of the dragons in her business if she had to read everything out of a piece of paper. After her quaky presentation, we discovered that she intended to set up a business that aimed at empowering women through paid seminars. She was asking for N5 million and offered 15% equity to the dragons. Alex was almost speechless; he wondered how Modupe expected to raise N5 million with such an unconvincing attitude. Ibukun Awosika pointed out that the service she wanted to charge people for were already available for free in most of the churches in Lagos; therefore she had no commercially viable business. Femi Tejuoso was still appalled by her presentation that he couldn’t resist humorously opining that Modupe should in fact pay the show for the free air time she had received for her business. Modupe lost all the dragons.

Maybe her business name “Whispers of Love” compelled her to whisper her pitch throughout her presentation. What’s your take?”

here is my take Miss Modupe ……you are asking for 5 million eh? You have to come across as someone who is about to change the whole landscape as it relates to your business! Okay, what have you done in your life that you feel you can inspire others? Most motivational speakers usually have had an event in their lives that they use to inspire others. For example, vernice amor, the first african american Woman Combat Pilot. Or in Nigeria, you started a business on a shoestring, a spa and now it has grown to 1million monthly recurring clients (okay maybe this may be a stretch but you get the point). Do not give up Dupe if you are reading this, but take it as a learning experience.

Next entrepreneur:

Building a New House…With Your Business Capital

“Mr. New House” had hopes of expanding his auto-refurbishing and auto-refinishing business with N10 million. He boasted of a turnover of N5 million for the past 3 years, with a profit of N2 million each year, to which John Momoh asked, “why do you think you’ve been making N5 million for the past 3 years- no growth?”, on a further probe by Ibukun Awosika, the entrepreneur confessed to having embarked on a few projects (with his capital?)- And when Ibukun Awosika asked what the nature of the projects were, the entrepreneur proudly announced that he had built himself a house. “If I give you this money, you might just decide to build a second house, or even marry a second wife- a good business man never touches his capital, for this reason I’m out” Ibukun Awosika had declared. The other dragons opted out too, and this entrepreneur went back to his newly built house with no investment.

Honesty…Honesty…Honesty! Is the den a confessional? I still can’t understand why Mr. New House confessed to astute business men and women that he had built a new house with his capital? What you think?

Mr New house please keep that info to yourself in the future. If you are truly an entrepreneur you would be ready to sacrifice a lot and I mean a lot to have your business succeed, for example if you drive a brand new range rover, you must be ready to perhaps downgrade to a simpler car such as Camry for a little while. Live on little and the word of the day is sacrifice a lot! Are you willing to do that? In future, do not say any thing about a new house when requesting venture capital in your investment. NO ONE REALLY CARES!

THIS ONE REALLY INFURIATES ME READERS, I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND TO BLOW IT WELL ….YOU NEED TO TAKE SOME CLASSES IN SETTING UP A BUSINESS!

The fourth entrepreneur, David Okafor wanted 25.5 million naira and was ready to give up 20% equity for his mobile enquiry service business. He talked about designing a mobile directory which would offer a bouquet of services from corporate organizations, and making it available to the public through dedicated short SMS codes. His idea sounded bankable at first glance, but when John Momoh inquired into what the 25.5 million naira was to be used for, and David began to talk about hardware and software and other technological stuff, the dragons referred him to the mobile-technology guru Alex Amosu, who soon invested some money (10 million naira) on this idea. Alex Amosu’s investment attracted Ibukun Awosika’s curiosity as she inquired from the entrepreneur if he had any exclusive deal (rights of exclusivity) with the manufacturer of the technology needed to power this product – the entrepreneur’s response was not satisfactory at all; and that revelation forced Alex Amosu to withdraw his initial investment of ten million naira, as he opted out. It was also revealed that the entrepreneur had not even bothered to register a company for this business. The commercial viability of what initially seemed to have been a good idea was unconvincing to the dragons who advised David to go do more work on the idea. They all opted out.

Obv: Whe he was asked: “have you registered a company for this business?” he answered “I’m still working on it”

He was very close to getting an investment, but somehow I got the feeling that he was in a hurry to appear in the den, and forgot to secure the necessary document required to make his pitch fool-proof.”

Look before you go before any VCS or this how it is done in NAIJA? You absolutely have to have a registered business. Any one can have an idea but the basics must be set up prior to requesting any investment capital. Whew, OK I am beat. What was your take readers? lets discuss!