Dragon's Den: The Enterprise Challenge

The Challenge
Students had to come up with their own business ideas in four teams of four or five, research those ideas thoroughly and present as if they would in a Dragon's Den. Each team had ten minutes to sell their ideas to the 'dragons' who would then proceed to ask questions. There was a lot of pressure to fit all the information in those ten minutes but the teams seemed unfazed by the time limit and very passionate about their ideas.

The Ideas
All four teams came up with some interesting and varied ideas. For example, one team, 'Chestnut', developed an idea for a food delivery company in Bangkok that would work well regardless of traffic congestion. They branded is as a 'fast' food delivery, with emphasis on the speed of the service. Another team, 'Cocolyte', researched the Leeds City Council plan for 2020 and developed an idea to produce coconut water which is a very healthy drink. They targeted it towards one of the biggest groups in Leeds, the 20-59 year olds, thus promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Two of the teams whilst they were presenting.

The Dragons
Two of our very own Enterprise Ambassadors, Becky Edlin Co-Founding Director of Magpie Communications, and Achille Traore, CEO of Top Screen Media, attended the session on Friday 23 September to judge the students' projects. They were joined by Dr Richard Tunstall, Lecturer in Enterprise at the Centre as well as Stephen King, Senior Lecturer at the Centre and Director of the MSc Enterprise.

I was impressed with the level of detail and market research that the students had managed to gather in such a short period of time. The presentations were delivered with passion and conviction and there were some really good ideas with potential. - Achille Traore, CEO Top Screen Media