Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs » bbc

Riders for health: watch the first episode of BBC social enterprise series

John King — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:08:02 +0000

In rural Africa, poor transport costs lives. Drugs cannot be delivered, patients cannot reach health centres and medics cannot send samples to labs for analysis. Riders for Health is changing all this. But can they now set up a new medical transport network in rural Zambia in just six months? Can they meet Alvin Hall’s challenge to import the motorcycles, train the riders, negotiate with the ministry and complete all the legal and business hurdles so quickly?

Watch more of this documentary series online.

BBC to screen social enterprise series

John King — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:02:33 +0000

BBC World News will be launching this weekend an 8-part series on social entrepreneurs around the globe. Alvin’s Guide to Good Business will follow financial expert Alvin Hall as he visits a different social entrepreneur each week. He’ll look at business models, impact, and the challenges of scaling. Featured organizations include Riders for Health, IDE-India, Marine Stewardship Council, Apopo, Partners in Health, Friends International, Camfed andKiva. The Skoll Foundation partnered with RockhopperTV on the series.

BBC World News is available via satellite and cable TV (it kicks off on Saturday at 0830 GMT and is repeated Sunday 14th at 1430 and 2130 GMT). The programme is also available via the BBC World News iPhone App and online.

Want to be on Dragons’ Den?

John King — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:43:02 +0000

Entrepreneurs from across the country once again have a chance to make their business dreams come true by appearing on Dragons’ Den. If you’re genuinely seeking investment for your business idea or invention, the BBC would like to hear from you.

Dragons’ Den is a challenging place to pitch, but it’s also a genuine business opportunity to secure investment. In the most recent series, 15 entrepreneurs accepted offers of investment in the Den and plenty more have gone on to find success even without the backing of the Dragons.

The rules are simple: entrepreneurs ask for a cash investment in return for equity in their business. However, they must get at least the amount they ask for or they will walk away with nothing. The Dragons are prepared to listen to a pitch for any kind of business but they must be convinced that it will make money.

As demonstrated by the investments in the last seven series, ideas, businesses and products that meet some or all of the following criteria stand a good chance of securing the Dragons’ interest:

A Unique Selling Point: a product that serves a need like nothing else.
Scalability: something that can be up scaled to make real money.
Route to Market: the clear way the product can be sold and marketed.
Mutually Beneficial Arrangement: just what will the Dragons get out of it?
Exit Strategy: a plan of how the entrepreneur/Dragon will exit and make money.

The BBC is currently searching for Britain’s best entrepreneurs and will be auditioning throughout the coming months. We want to hear from anyone who thinks they’ve got what it takes to enter the Dragons’ Den.

If you would like an application form please send an e-mail to dragonsden@bbc.co.uk or visit www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden

Are you the next Wallace?

John King — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:56:45 +0000

Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention is a new primetime BBC series featuring our favourite pair of animated ‘inventurers’.

The programme is Wallace and Gromit’s first foray into the world of presenting and the BBC have asked them to produce a series on inventions. The BBC are interested in finding people and ideas that could possibly feature on the show.

If you have an invention you wish to discuss email lucy.rogers [at] aardman.com to get involved!