I do love watching Dragon’s Den on BBC2 – it’s great to see people who are striving to become entrepreneurs and make a success of their ideas. Having said that, I have managed to miss most of the recent shows. But last night, Boxing Day, I watched the Dragons Den 2017 Christmas Special.
It was a good show with the usual scenes where people pitched for investment in their company for a certain percentage of the business. As usual some people managed to upset the Dragons, there were offers of investment, and negotiations over percentages. I will link to the other ones below, but the story that really caught my eye was that of Mo Bro’s Grooming Co – 3 brothers from Leicester who had made a successful start with their beard and moustache grooming business, but needed investment and guidance from the Dragon’s to push on to the next level.
They entered the Den wearing matching outfits, and confidently put their pitch forward. As usual, questions were asked by the Dragons regarding financials, how they were currently selling, and where they want to go with the company. However it wasn’t long before Touker Souleyman declared himself out (he wasn’t going to invest) due to a conflict of interests.
However the other 4 Dragons all made offers – if my memory serves me right Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones offered the whole amount, whilst Tej Lalvani and Jenny Campbell offered half each. As is often the case, but not always, Deborah and Peter said they would be willing to share.
After much deliberation at the back of the room, the three brothers accepted Peter and Tej as joint investors, and challenged them to grow beards to match! They had secured the £150,000 they had been looking for.
On their website, they have a blog post that goes into some of the background of the show, from their point of view. They had been approached by the programme’s research team to appear, but at first declined the offer. But further invitations convinced them that they could be ready for the exposure the programme brings. They nearly dropped out when the new series was announced – 2 of the previous Dragons had left the show – but when they heard Tej Lalvvani was coming on board as a new Dragon they were aware of his similar background and that convinced them to go ahead.
They also tell of the amount of preparation they put in, locking themselves away for 3 long days in order to get their pitch perfect. On the day of filming they were collected at 5.30 by the BBC and taken to where the show is filmed. They had been advised that they could be called on to pitch anywhere between 9.00 am and 7.00 pm – a ten hour window to make a 1 hour show!
So where are the products now? They can be seen on Amazon, in Next, and even in the latest Paddington film!
The Products
Mo Bro’s Beard Balm is available in 3 versions – Unscented, Classic Cedarwood and Vanilla & Mango. Perfect for taming a wild beard, these 25ml tins contain 100% natural ingredients – shea butter, almond oil and beeswax. Which all go to making your beard or moustache soft and smelling great.
These Mo Bro’s Beard Oil bottles are 30ml and come in 7 different scents – Unscented, Vanilla & Mango, Sweet Mint, Summer Spice, Sandalwood, Orange Bergamot and Cedarwood. This will leave your beard calmed and moisturised.
The Mo Bro’s Beard Soap is available in the same 7 ingredients as the Beard Oil. For perfect beard washing the base ingredient is goat’s milk, which will leave your lovely and soft as well as superbly clean.
Mo Bro’s Moustache Wax comes in Unscented, Classic Cedarwood and Vanilla and Mango. Not too soft like some other waxes, it’s made from 100% natural products, including beeswax.
Gift Sets
Mo Bro’s have many different gift sets, which give better value for money for you when buying as a present for the man in your life. Here are just a few that I have selected to feature.
If you have a bearded man that you need to buy a gift for – and let’s face it, there are a lot of them around at present, including yours truly – then why not follow in the footsteps of the Dragon’s and put your money into supporting this young family company.
If you have a health conscious person in your circle of friends, and you want to buy them a gift, but you aren’t that healthy yourself, you may be struggling to come up with any ideas.