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PETER JONES - DRAGONS DEN
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If you've ever had an idea to make money, Dragons' Den is THE show to watch. All manner of money-spinning minds will step into the intimidating world of business financing, determined to make their dreams come true. All they need is the cash. To get this, they must face the Dragons, all of whom are formidable business thinkers with the money to make things happen.
DEBORAH MEADEN | DUNCAN BANNATYNE | PETER JONES | RICHARD FARLEIGH | THEO PAPHITIS
Peter Jones (b. 1966) is an English businessman with interests in mobile telecommunications, media, leisure and property. The Sunday Times Rich List 2005 estimates he is worth at least £180 million.
Life and career
Peter Jones is best known in the UK for his appearance on BBC Two's Dragons' Den. [1] In 2006, he secured a major deal with the UK broadcaster, ITV, to appear as their new "face" of business programming. In the US, Jones featured as a judge in ABC's American Inventor.
Jones' business success began when he started his own tennis academy at the age of just 16. He went on to create a computer support business. He also owned a bar and restaurant, which through inexperience, he failed to make work. As the founder of Phones International Group, Jones now heads one of the most successful privately-owned companies in the UK. He founded the company in April 1998 and has watched it experience rapid growth, with projected revenues expected to exceed $500 million in 2006.
In the summer of 2005, Jones teamed up with another Dragons' Den star, Theo Paphitis, to buy the gift experience company Red Letter Days from fellow panellist Rachel Elnaugh. The company, which was on the verge of collapse, has been turned around and is now trading profitably again. Through his appearance on the programme, Jones has invested in several start-up ventures including style magazine Wonderland and Wireless Logic, which provides data services for marinas. Jones launched a TV production company in 2006. His business portfolio also includes a range of property investments.
To some derision from his critics, he has self-styled himself as an "ultrapreneur" which he defines as "a radical spirit whose restless pursuit of innovative business excellence is unbounded; recognised as a super-heroic leader of hearts and minds". Jones has since said the term is tongue-in-cheek although he is "absolutely committed to, and believes in what it stands for."
Jones set up a charity called Lost Children to provide funding for organisations looking after children who have slipped through the normal system of care.
Red Letter Days
Peter Jones is fast becoming one of the UK’s best known entrepreneurs thanks to his £200m-turnover business Phones International Group and involvement in the BBC’s Dragons’ Den. But it was his deal to bring Red Letter Days back from the dead that raised most eyebrows. Rachel Elnaugh’s Red Letter Days went into administration amid crippling debts. Couldn’t get much worse, could it? She had carefully built the £17m-turnover experiences company before busily forging a career as a business guru on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den – only to lose it all.
To then see the ailing business saved by two of her fellow panellists on the programme in a blaze of headlines rubbed salt into an already gaping wound. It’s about as humiliating a scenario as you could imagine. Peter Jones, the entrepreneur behind £200m-plus wireless communications business Phones International Group, and Theo Paphitis, the man who revitalised La Senza, Ryman and Millwall FC, stepped in to pluck Elnaugh’s 16-year-old ‘baby’ from the clutches of administrators Kroll in early August.
Jones, particularly, may have looked to outsiders as though he had a mean streak. He had sat side by side with Elnaugh for the filming of two series’ of BBC Two’s cult success. Paphitis on the other hand had yet to be publicly unveiled as the replacement for YO! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe. For Jones, there was no discernible ‘fit’ with his other business activities and his position in the limelight could only be enhanced by this sexy business story for the nationals.
Furthermore, taking on the debts would barely dent his estimated personal wealth. How could he lose? But he refutes absolutely that he moved out of any desire to boost his profile further, arguing that he and Paphitis have far from courted the press. “This is not a publicity stunt,” he says, anticipating how some might perceive it. “The reality of life is we’ve got to go in and do a turnaround. When we’ve achieved that, we’ll talk about it. Over the last eight weeks we’ve been completely wrapped up in the business.” He admits he’s spoken to Elnaugh, who he described as a business acquaintance more than a friend, once or twice since but says they’re not in dialogue as she has no further part to play.
Jones stands at 6'7" tall
LINKS
Pitcher's Bible Summary
The product
The Investor
The Partnership
MONEY FINDER
MORE LINKS
There is a wealth of information out there for budding entrepreneurs and here is a list of some websites that can put you in the picture.
BBC sites
Start a business A BBC consumer guide to starting out. Starting your small business A BBC News guide. Getting Started A ONE Life checklist on starting up your own business. Working Lunch BBC 2's daily taste of the latest developments in business and personal finance. Radio 4 - In Business Radio 4's weekly look at trends and developments in industry and the world of work. Five
Live - Wake Up to Money Find information on setting up in business,
managing money, personal finances and career moves. General
SOLAR COLA as an INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY?
The soft drinks market is a tough place to do business, unless you have something different to offer and the marketing muscle to match.
For nearly 100 years Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola have dominated the marketplace with similar products. Each company spends around $600-800 million dollars a year to maintain its market position. The advertising centers around sport and music, with a scattering of irregular television campaigns. Each company launches (or attempts to launch) new brands every year. So far, they have not proved as successful as their regular cola brands.
Red Bull, although in a different drinks category, spends not quite as much on advertising , but has managed to acquire instant status and volume sales from sponsoring formula one, the Darpa Desert Challenge, and now the New Jersey MetroStars football team.
Solar Cola, apart from it's contemporary name, is a healthier cola based drink. Just as refreshing, it contains a unique blend of added ingredients as an aid to good health and energy levels. The company contributes to and sponsors alternative projects, to include these websites, featuring movies, music and several thousand pages of news and general information, which generates in excess of 6 million visits a month already. Recent acquisitions include the rights to the Solar Navigator World Electric Challenge, and also the new Bluebird Electric land speed record car for 2007. The company may also sponsor the London to Brighton Solar Car Run in 2009 (dependent on the number of university entries received).
It is thought that this marketing strategy will equal several hundred thousand dollars of conventional Ad Agency spending. As an example of the kind of media coverage such nautical expeditions generate, you have only to look at the newspaper coverage when Ellen Macarthur completed her world circumnavigation. The same holds true for Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.
The design of the Solar Cola can is copyright protected, with trademark applications in the USA, Australia and Europe pending in Class 32 and rights already granted in the UK. Introduction of the drink is held in abeyance pending official launch of one or other sponsored projects, which will be activated when the time is right, such activation to coincide with the market introduction of the drink.
Solar Cola PLC is shortly to be activated for online investment as their trading arm. The company is forecast to produce excellent results for investors, with sustained growth to be followed by an eventual flotation on the Stock Markets of the world in the next few years. At this point estimates suggest investors will reap substantial gains - in line with international Licensing expectations.
Solar Cola Ltd is managing the funding requirement for the trading company. They are looking for medium term or seed investment between £4-5 million to kick start phase two of the venture: which is to volume produce the product for supply to supermarkets and other retail outlets.
If you are a Business Angel, or Equity House, looking for a business with the potential for rapid growth, please contact SOLAR COLA LTD for details. Ask for the funding project manager: Nelson Kruschandl
+ 44 (0) 1323 831727 +44 (0) 7905 147709
This material and any views expressed herein are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed in any way as an endorsement or inducement to invest in any specific program. Before investing in any program, you must obtain, read and examine thoroughly its disclosure document or offering memorandum.
A taste for adventure capitalists
Solar Cola - the healthier cola alternative
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