Dragons’ Den
In order to facilitate the ‘Write a Business Plan’ aspect of the Bio Enterprise and Employability module at Bangor University, students take part in an assessed Dragons’ Den workshop.
The students were divided into groups and asked to elect a coordinator. The coordinator was responsible for organising the team and ensuring time schedules were kept to. I was elected as the coordinator for my group.
List of Business ideas provided to the groups. My group chose number 4 – the SBS Mobile Wildlife business.
Once dived into teams each group was provided with a sheet containing a list of potential business opportunities orientated around Bangor and North Wales.
After selecting a business, the workshop was split into five main sections;
1. Mapping out the chosen business and presenting your idea to the other teams,
2. Creating a Business Plan,
3. Writing, designing and creating a 20 second video,
4. Planning and presenting a business pitch,
5. Feedback session.
The business pitch segment of the module was presented to two ‘Dragons’;
Selling yourself: During a pitch investors are not just looking to invest in your business but in you. Sell yourself as well as your idea.
Overview
Mapping out a business idea and writing a plan for said business provided students with an insight into what is required when it comes to developing a new business idea into reality. This was a greatly beneficial and constructive part of the workshop.
In order to simulate an ‘elevator pitch’, we were asked to write, design and
film a 20 second video about our chosen business. This task allowed us to pin point the specific selling points of the business.
After completing the videos, groups were given half an hour to prepare a 3 minute sales pitch. During the pitch, the video was played and assessed, followed by the pitch. The Dragons then asked questions to the groups regarding their businesses.
The final feedback session summarised each groups overall performance throughout the workshop and the Dragons announced which business they would choose to invest in.
Personal Thoughts
This workshop was greatly beneficial to my future career path. I hope to create my own business and as such the knowledge of how to plan and pitch that business to potential investors is essential.
I found the video section of the workshop the most challenging. We were given limited time and resources and no additional editing time or software. However, this restriction forced us to think outside of the box and focus on the important aspects of the business, a skill I will implement in the future.
The only criticism I have of this experience is that the dragons did not seem entirely aware of the task description we were given. Emlyn repeatedly stated that targeting schools as a customer was a poor decision. However, the list of businesses we were originally provided with consisted mostly of ideas aimed at educational facilities.
Odd remarks were also made during their questions; one business being pitched was a nature park with an interactive education centre. Lowri suggested the use of virtual reality equipment to entice visitors. This seemed like a conflict of interests as the park promoted visitors to go outside and experience the natural world, whilst the VR system promoted the opposite.
Overall, the workshop was highly beneficial and allowed me to isolate areas that I need to look at in more detail when designing my own business in the future.
Rebecca Snell's Blog 
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