DRAGONS DEN NIGERIA THE SCOOP MY TAKE!!

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!