The 1st episode of a new series of The Dragons Den was shown last night at 20:00 on BBC2. Dragons’ Den is a series where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to secure investment finance from our dragons – elite business entrepreneurs.

Meet the dragons:

Duncan Bannatyne

Top pitching tip – Know your numbers, know your percentages.
Cardinal pitching sin – The very worst thing you can ever do is arrive late.
Motto – You only live once. If you don’t enjoy it, it’s your fault, nobody else’s.

A poverty-stricken childhood steeled Duncan’s drive to make his fortune from an early age. He began his entrepreneurial life by trading in cars, but it was with an ice cream van that he changed the course of his life – setting out to become the king of the ’99′.
He then switched to nursing homes, becoming a multi-millionaire in the process. Since then Duncan has built up a chain of health clubs called ‘Bannatyne’s’ and also owns Bannatyne’s Casino, Bar and Hotels.
Estimated to be worth more than £170m, 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 North Region Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 and Master Entrepreneur Of The Year 2003 for the North Region.

Peter Jones

Top pitching tip – Know your end goal and work towards it.
Cardinal pitching sin – Do not over exaggerate the opportunity, be clear and concise.
Motto – Believe in yourself, never give up and go about your business with passion drive and enthusiasm.

Peter’s entrepreneurial journey started early when, at the age of 16, he founded a tennis academy. He then set up a computer business and had various other business interests.
At the age of 28, Peter joined corporate giant Siemens Nixdorf and ran the computer business in the UK. In 1998 he founded Phones International Group, a telecommunications firm that now generates revenues in excess of £200m.
His business interests range from telecoms, leisure, publishing as well as TV and media. Peter has won many national awards, including Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001. Aged 40, Peter is considered to be one of the UK’s leading young businessmen.

Theo Paphitis

Top pitching tip – Make sure you look right and have the answers that will press the dragons’ buttons.
Cardinal sin – A lack of cashflow is like a heart attack – if you can’t pay your bills you’re out of business.
Motto – There are three reasons to be in business. To make money, to have fun – and to make money.

Born in Cyprus, Theo came to England when he was six and was running the tuck shop at his north London school at 15. Starting out as tea boy at a City insurance broker, he found his flair for retail as a shop assistant at Watches of Switzerland.
Theo returned to the insurance industry in sales at 20, where he discovered his natural ability of pointing out the obvious and applying common sense (which is not common). In no time he was helping businesses in difficulty and this soon became a full time role.
He has turned Ryman, Contessa, La Senza and Partners the Stationers into successful and profitable retail businesses.
He now heads up a 350 store chain and a group turnover approaching £250m. His latest ventures include Red Letter Days, the company he salvaged out of administration with fellow Dragon Peter Jones.

And we have two new dragons for this series:

Deborah Meaden

British multi-millionairess, Deborah Meaden launched her own glass and ceramics export company straight out of business college, before setting up one of the first Stefanel fashion franchises in the UK.
With several successful business in the leisure and retail sector under her belt, she became Managing Director of her family’s holiday park business Weststar Holidays, acquired the major shareholding in a management buyout and later sold the company in a deal worth £33 million whilst retaining a 23% stake.
She still retains an active role at Weststar but is devoting more time to finding good investment opportunities, the first of which has been a market research company.

Richard Farleigh

New Dragon, Australian multi-millionaire Richard is a full time business angel who has possibly invested in more new UK companies than any other British investor.
With a penchant for private equity investment in young high growth technology startups, the list of companies he has put his money in reads like the who’s who of the UK tech sector – including Amino Technology, ANT, Celoxica, Clearspeed, ARC International, Argonaut Software, IP2IPO and Wolfson Microelectronics, amongst others.

For any budding entrepreneur, this is a must watch!

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