Ultima Studios (Ultima) is excited to announce that it is bringing the world’s number one business reality television show, Lions’ Den back to Nigeria! The programme’s journey back to Nigerian TV screens started last week in London, when Ultima’s Chairman/CEO, Femi Ayeni, signed an agreement with UK-based Sony Pictures Television (SPT) to produce the Nigerian version of Lions’ Den.
The show…
Today, most people will know the show as Dragons’ Den (UK) and Shark Tank (US). However, the format, created by Japan’s Nippon TV, originally aired in Japan in 2001 as “Money Tigers”. It emerged in the UK two years later, and the UK version has been the longest running adaptation, currently in its 15th season. In 2009, the Dragons became Sharks, and the US version, Shark Tank started. Shark Tank has now been made in the US, Australia, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Mongolia and Vietnam.
Over the 17 years since it first launched, the show has become a global phenomenon with the format selling into more than 35 territories across all continents of the world. It has won multiple awards in every country in which it has aired, including the prestigious Emmy Award in the US for Outstanding Structured Reality Programme (4 consecutive years); the Annual Critics’ Choice Award in the US for Best Reality Series (3 consecutive years) and in the UK, the Royal Television Society North West Awards (5 times) in different categories.
The basic format of the show is that entrepreneurs pitch bold new ideas and inventions to five millionaires, the investors, in search of investments to fund the growth of their business ideas. The entrepreneurs must convince one or more of the investors to invest a specific amount of their money, or they fail. They will need to prove themselves with hard facts and figures, and answer the investors probing questions. If the investors are impressed by a pitch, they negotiate aggressively to own the biggest possible share in the venture in exchange for cash. The show makes compelling viewing, especially when the investors start competing with each other to be the sole investor in a truly promising venture.
Success Stories…
Many entrepreneurs have made success of their business ideas after appearing on the show. Two that come to mind are the sponge company that has become the biggest “Shark Tank” success story. Over the past 3 years, Scrub Daddy has brought in a total of $75 million in revenue. When the founder and CEO, Aaron Krause came on the show, the company had struggled to reach $100,000 in sales over 18 months. The Shark that invested saw great potential in the company and she helped Krause to expand his product line and exposed them to retail outlets where they’ve become best sellers. And in the UK, Levi Roots is widely considered the biggest ever success on Dragons’ Den after his Reggae Reggae Sauce became a store cupboard staple. Big supermarket chain – Sainsbury’s was bowled over by the level of demand for the tasty condiment when it first went on sale, as it sold in a single week what it was expected to shift in a year!
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