Students Pitch to Dragon's Den

Students hope to hear ‘I’m in’ as they prepare to pitch to panel of ‘dragons’

Students at Swindon College have been busy preparing for a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style pitch, which will  see them face a panel of successful business figures – including one of Britain’s leading young entrepreneurs, Jordan Daykin, who appeared on Dragons’ Den aged just 19 in 2014.

The pitch forms part of the students’ level 3 90 Credit Diploma in Business – in a unit designed to teach them the fundamentals of how to start a small business.

Set up to mirror the format of the popular BBC 2 series, thirteen students across three teams will each give the panel an overview of their business plans – with virtual money available for the dragons to ‘invest’. 

Five key business figures from across the south west, who have taken part in previous years will return to the panel, including Jack Peploe - CEO of award winning managed service provider Thirdline, Rob Moody –owner of professional B2B appointment setting service nseventeen, and Ian Larrard- Director of Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative, part of Business West.

Jordan, who is originally from Trowbridge will join the panel for the first time, bringing with him his own experiences of the dragons’ lair.  Jordan was successful in obtaining backing from Dragon Deborah Meaden back in 2014, securing an £80,000 investment in his business ‘GripIt Fixings’. Most recently he featured on the BBC Dragon Den’s follow up show ‘Pitches to Riches’ in February 2016.

‘’We’re delighted to have Jordan on board’’ says Swindon College Lecturer Andrew Paterson. ‘’He’s a real inspiration to our students and proof that hard work, determination and entrepreneurial flair really can lead to success.’’

Having been working on their pitches for a number of weeks, it seems the students are looking forward to the challenge…

Student Toby Jamie, 18 is a member of team ‘Candy Crush’ and says ‘’I’ve really enjoyed the whole process.’’ 

‘’We all had good ideas so we worked through these to come up with what we think could be a successful business. We don’t want to reveal too much but our team name is a clue. All I can say is that it’s something sweet related!’’

Toby is particularly looking forward to meeting Jordan Daykin. ‘’He started out on his own, and after appearing on Dragons’ Den has gone from strength to strength.’’ He says.  ‘’He’s been hugely successful so I’m really looking forward to meeting him and getting his feedback.’’

Fellow Candy Crush team member Leah Scaife, 18 is also excited to face the dragons. ‘’We’re really looking forward to speaking to real-life investors that we could potentially be working with in the future.’’ she says.

Team ‘Electric’ have also been busy preparing their pitch, with team member Olivia Adsett, 16 particularly looking forward to putting everything she’s learnt on her course into practice. ‘’It’s a really unique opportunity to meet people who have been there and done it’’ she says.  ‘’We hope we can impress all of the dragons.’’

Students will face the panel on Monday 13th June – with each hoping they’ll hear the dragons say …‘I’m in’!

To find out more about business courses at Swindon College or to apply now for September visit www.swindon.ac.uk.