Our Year 12 A level Business Studies students have been working for the last few weeks on Dragons’ Den (aka Shark Tank) business research and pitches, hoping to win an investment in their business ideas.

Some of the innovative entrepreneurs who came up with ideas were shy to present them, but others took their ideas all the way from final presentations to the judges last week. They should all be congratulated for this commitment and courage under fire.

All the pitches had their strengths: Nina targeted the huge and growing magnetic eyelash market with her niche, customised product. Eva scored the highest on best potential return for a low investment with her Artists at Events service while Sasha and Jayden got the highest marks for the idea itself and their primary research. Zee’s Eco lantern got the credit for sustainability and effective simplicity. Nina, Polina and Zee all scored an extra point each for bravely going it alone when their classmates were unavailable due to exams or other commitments.

The overall winners were Daniel and Liza who pitched an idea for Mindfuel. This comprised gift bags of indulgent products to help relieve stress such as exam pressure; their presentation was thorough and showed some thorough work on costing as well as pricing strategies to consider.

Well done all and we look forward to seeing you in a few years’ time on the real Dragons’ Den! Or Shark Tank? In the meantime, we hope the experience will stand you in good stead when required to do this type of presentation at university or in your careers.