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DRAGONS’ DEN

Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com Image Name: Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com
Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com Image Name: Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com
Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com Image Name: Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com
Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com Image Name: Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com
Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com Image Name: Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com
Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com Image Name: Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com
Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com Image Name: Dragons' Den, 2016. Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com

Series Overview:

Dragons’ Den returns for a seventh series to RTÉ One on Sunday April 17th at 9.30pm featuring two new Dragons, Alison Cowzer and Eleanor McEvoy, alongside returning favourites Gavin Duffy, Barry O’Sullivan and Eamonn Quinn.

Alison Cowzer is co-founder and Marketing/Innovation Director of East Coast Bakehouse, Ireland’s only large scale biscuit manufacturing business based in Drogheda. She is also co-founder and Managing Director of ‘The Company of Food’, a specialist food investment business. Joining her will be Eleanor McEvoy, the CEO of Budget Energy Ltd, one of the leading providers of low cost electricity in the Northern Ireland market with over 60,000 residential and commercial customers.  A serial entrepreneur, she previously set up and sold two multi-million euro businesses.

This eight part series will see a host of original and unique ideas pitched to the Dragons with everything from food, fashion, beauty, fitness, education and journalism. But will the Dragons invest? And if more than one Dragon is interested who will come out on top? The Dragons have turned up the heat in the Den and are ready to go head to head to secure the best investments.

The seventh series of Dragons’ Den has also seen the highest percentage of female entrepreneurs in the history of the show.  Huge evidence that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well and with over €930k invested this series promises to deliver some great Irish success stories!

 

 

Dragons’ Den will be broadcast for eight weeks from Sunday 17thApril until Sunday 5th June 2016.

 

Dragons’ Den, sponsored by Emirates Airlines is produced by Screentime ShinAwil for RTÉ.

 

 

For further information / interviews / images please contact:

Deirdre Crookes on: deirdre@lhpublicity.ie | 01 497 0313 / 087 221 0550

 

Barry O’Sullivan is CEO of Altocloud, a Silicon Valley technology company which is based in Galway and San Francisco. With over 25 years of experience in communications technology and services Barry brings his leadership and entrepreneurial passion for understanding customer needs together with a wealth of experience in breakthrough real-time telecommunications, rich-media technology, data analysis, and mobile and web platforms.

He joined Altocloud from Cisco where he was Senior Vice President and led Cisco’s Collaboration and Unified Communications businesses for over 10 years, which he grew from $100m to over $4 billion. In 2012, Barry joined Dragons’ Den.  This will be his third year on the Den.

Eleanor McEvoy is the Founder and CEO of Budget Energy Ltd, one of the leading providers of low cost electricity in the Northern Ireland market with over 65,000 residential and commercial customers. Since 1991, she has successfully built and sold two companies, vending company Pembroke Distributors Ltd in 2001, and Phonecard Warehouse Ltd, which had a turnover of £50 million when it was sold in 2006. Eleanor is a Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Ulster University and has reached the finals of Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year twice, in 2004 and 2013.

Eamonn Quinn was Marketing Director and Deputy Chairman of the Irish supermarket chain Superquinn until the company was sold in 2005. Since then Eamonn invests through the Quinn Family investment portfolio which includes private investments related to the global food retail sector, green energies and private equity funds.  He is currently an Executive Chairman of Kelsius Limited, Director of Nualight, and Director of Endeco.  With over 25 years’ experience in the food retail sector Eamonn has also held leading positions on the boards of international food retail industry bodies. He is also a former chairman of Identigen. A seasoned investor with a wide ranging portfolio, Eamonn is also involved in the financing and mentoring of start-ups.  This will be Eamonn’s second year in the Den.

 Alison Cowzer is co-founder and Marketing/Innovation Director of East Coast Bakehouse, Ireland’s only large scale biscuit manufacturing business based in Drogheda.  She is also co-founder and Managing Director of ‘The Company of Food’, a specialist food investment business.  Prior to this she has worked in a number of roles in marketing and general management at the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group.  Earlier in her career she held marketing and general management positions in Fruitfield Foods, L’Oreal UK and Tedcastles Oil.  Alison is a board member of Ronald Mc Donald House Charity, and advisory board member of GOAL.

 

Gavin Duffy returns for the seventh series of Dragons’ Denhaving been there from when the show first aired in 2009. He is best known for taking businesses from concept in the Den to success in retail or online in just a matter of months. While Gavin has been at the pulse of the Media & Communications industry for many years, he was reared in the hospitality and retail business with his family running pubs, restaurants and shops.

In 2004, LMFM which he founded was sold to UTV for €11 million. In 1992 he founded his Media Consultancy business Dorland which owns www.mediatraining.ie. Dorland is the leading consultancy helping Senior Executives to communicate their business messages internally and externally. He also successfully invested in a number of companies and start ups and remains part owner of the HRM Group of Companies, one Ireland’s biggest players in recruitment.