DRAGONS’ DEN ***New Series***

Dragons' Den (L-R) Gavin Duffy, Barry O’Sullivan, Ramona Nicholas, Sean O’Sullivan, Peter Casey, . Image Name: Dragons' Den (L-R) Gavin Duffy, Barry O’Sullivan, Ramona Nicholas, Sean O’Sullivan, Peter Casey, . Description: Dragons' Den (L-R) Gavin Duffy, Barry O’Sullivan, Ramona Nicholas, Sean O’Sullivan, Peter Casey,
Dragons' Den Image Name: Dragons' Den Description: Dragons' Den
Dragons' Den Sean O'Sullivan Image Name: Dragons' Den Sean O'Sullivan Description: Dragons' Den Sean O'Sullivan
Dragons' Den Peter Casey Image Name: Dragons' Den Peter Casey Description: Dragons' Den Peter Casey
Dragons' Den Barry O’Sullivan Image Name: Dragons' Den Barry O’Sullivan Description: Dragons' Den Barry O’Sullivan
Dragons' Den Gavin Duffy Image Name: Dragons' Den Gavin Duffy Description: Dragons' Den Gavin Duffy
Dragons' Den Ramona Nicholas Image Name: Dragons' Den Ramona Nicholas Description: Dragons' Den Ramona Nicholas

Broadcast Details: Sunday 3rd March, 9.30pm

Ramona Nicholas, Barry O’Sullivan and Peter Casey join Gavin Duffy and Sean O’Sullivan in the Den ready to put Ireland’s top entrepreneurs and inventors through their paces

Episode One:

Dragons’ Den is back for a fifth series with three new Dragons Ramona Nicolas, Peter Casey and Barry O’Sullivan trying to find their feet, but it isn’t long before they feel ready to compete with the established names of Gavin Duffy and Sean O’Sullivan. There is a wide range of pitches in this first episode with everything from guitars, to retraining solutions for people who find themselves out of work. But will the Dragons invest their hard earned cash? Tune in to RTÉ One Sunday 3rd March to find out….

The fifth series of Dragons’ Den, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, returns to RTÉ One on Sunday 3rd March. The Den welcomes three new business entrepreneurs and also smashes previous investment records.

Ramona Nicholas, Barry O’Sullivan and Peter Casey join Gavin Duffy and Sean O’Sullivan in the Den ready to put Ireland’s top entrepreneurs and inventors through their paces. In Series 5 the Dragons saw 60 adult pitches and invested in 17 of them.  In these tough economic times the Dragons, new and old, put their hard earned money on the table and invested €17m.

This ten part series will see a host of original and unique ideas pitched to the Dragons with everything from dog food to summer camps and guitars. 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.

This year will see a brand new segment added to the show in the form of Junior Dragons. This will provide an opportunity to the next generation of business people in Ireland. Open to applicants between 12- 18 years old the nation’s young people will get a chance to show that their fresh new ideas can make it in the Den and secure the approval of the Dragons.

In these tough times the series Dragons’ Den, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, provides the opportunity for intrepid dreamers to prove their idea’s worth. Across the previous series over 230 ideas and their creators have entered the Den, taken the grilling, hopeful of walking away with the investment. More than 60 were successful and secured over €2.3 million in funding.

 

Dragons’ Den will be broadcast for ten weeks from Sunday 3rd March until Sunday 5th May. The Junior Dragons’ Den episodes will air in the final two weeks of the run – 28th April and  5th May.

 

Dragons’ Den is produced by Screentime ShinAwil for RTÉ.

 

END

 

For further information please contact Deirdre Crookes @ LHP on 01 497 0313 or 087 221 0550.

 

Notes to editors:

 

Junior Dragons’ Den

Though an international format, Ireland is the first territory to run Junior Dragons’ Den*.

The Junior Dragons’ Den was conceived as a showcase for the best of Ireland’s next generation of entrepreneurs.

Open to applicants between 12– 18 years old, over 340 ideas from across the island were submitted for entry to the Junior Dragons’ Den. A shortlist of 190 ideas was then selected for a series of 10 Regional Final events during the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Week in November 2012. Using teams of local judges, the best 100 ideas were shortlisted for the Junior Dragons’ Den National Final, which was held at The Gibson Hotel in Dublin on December 8th 2012.  The best 20 ideas were deemed suitable for going forward to scrutiny by the Dragons.

All the young people featured have come through two rounds to make to the Den, so the standard is high – they have good products and are excellent communicators.

Each of the individuals and teams entering the Den were competing for a €2,000 bursary to use towards their business or to further their education. But if their pitches were not successful they went away from the Den with nothing. The Dragons were just as thorough as they are for the adult series, but all agree they were blown away by the incredibly high standard of the would be entrepreneurs.

 

Of the 20 ideas that entered the Den, half went away with the €2,000 award.

 

Inside the Den

For the inside track, viewers can check out www.bankofireland.ie/dragons for exclusive videos and great insights into the Dragons’ decisions together with interviews with the featured entrepreneurs.  Further more, viewers can play the award winning ‘The Sixth Dragon Game’ during the show, and pit their wits against the experts, guessing investment amounts and equity stakes agreed. The site also contains lots of powerful business content including news, advice and information for SMEs

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