By Bizna Brand Analyst
KCB’s Lion’s Den is a great idea. It’s not an original idea but it’s still a great idea.
The Lions
Through it, select entrepreneurs will get a rare chance to pitch their products to a panel of ‘successful’ businessmen and women and if they are lucky, they will get funding. We’ve seen it all before on the popular US series Shark Tank and Canada’s Dragon’s Den.
Lion’s Den will definitely be TV gold, but will it be business gold? The answer is “Yes’ and ‘No’, But today I shall focus on the ‘No’ since every good looking carpet has dirt underneath. The major problem with Lion’s Den are the investors chosen to headline it. I have no problem with their personalities but I think they are more ‘featherweight’ than ‘heavyweight’ in the business world. Their pockets are not as deep as they should be and their names are not well known by the common man that will be tuning in to the show.
Why does popularity matter?
As we’ve seen on Shark Tank, when an entrepreneur goes in to pitch their idea, there are two things that might happen:
1) They will get a deal or
2) They will be rejected and offered some form of advice.
As an entrepreneur, if I am going to pitch an idea about farming and I get rejected then Olive Gachara, the founder of Couture Magazine, decides to offer me some tough advice, will I listen to her? Will I take her word to heart? Probably not. In my mind, I’ll be more bitter than glad. I’ll be thinking, “My business is about agriculture, how will her opinions even benefit me? She runs a magazine.”
However, if someone like Chris Kirubi gives me tough advice even if he has no investments in agriculture (which he does), I would still listen to him because he’s a known and respected businessman with a track record of fabulous investments..
In that panel, the only name that the public is familiar with is Darshan Chandaria, because the Chandaria name is huge. If I decided to call myself Chandaria, I would walk into every office and get myself a business deal. The rest of the investors might be true titans but people don’t really know them. Every venture capitalist on Shark Tank was well known before the show started. That’s why it has become one of the most successful reality TV productions of all time.
Deep Pockets
Now I talked about the size of the pockets. How will that impact the outcomes of Lion’s Den? We have to understand that the panelists won’t just makes decisions depending on how good or bad an entrepreneur’s idea is. They will also make decisions depending on how much they are willing to spend. If an investor’s pocket isn’t deep enough, they’ll be more mean with their money even if an idea is worth believing in and investing in.
But if Lion’s Den featured people who have massive wealth like Kirubi and Vimal, decisions will be made purely on how good or bad a pitch is plus the potential of the business in question. Such people won’t be so concerned about their pockets. They won’t be driven by the fear of loss because risk is a key factor in investment/business.
Verdict
The panel was already selected though, and the participants selection process is on. All have to do right now is sit back and wait to see how Lion’s Den turns out. For the sake of the entrepreneurs, I do hope that everything runs without a glitch. I hope that promising businesses will be carried to greater heights.