A Dragons' Den contestant has revealed she was at the "lowest point" in her business before her appearance on the BBC programme, which left her with a joint investment from Peter Jones and guest Dragon Tinie Tempah.
Abilash Abhohi brought her plant-based ice-cream brand Moonji to the Den during the episode airing on Thursday, September 3. She was hoping to seek an investment of £75,000 for 15% equity in her business, and offered tasters to the investors, including Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman.
Pitch and Financial Grilling
Introducing her business, she said: "I think what I'm really genuinely passionate about is getting more and more people access to products that have more natural ingredients in them."
She continued: "I've poured my heart and soul into this, I've just been doing it all on my own, and because of that, it's just taken its time, but now I feel I'm ready to take this business to the next level."
Following her pitch, Abilash was grilled on the business's finances, with the Dragons sharing their concerns about investing. She said: "The business has been going in chapters, the first year, we were with Farmacy and Fortnum & Mason, it was very much… I had no plan. So I knew, with a gut feeling, at the beginning really, to scale this, I want to find a factory manufacturing partner. We raised £105,000 with the intention of taking on a factory, so that's why the expenses were higher.
"However, we had a factory let us down basically. And then, I said we'll start over and find another factory. This factory was really keen to take us on, but things just didn't quite work out. They were having financial difficulty."
She went on: "With Fortnum & Mason, the issue was that I was making it on a really tiny ice cream machine and they wanted a considerable amount of volume. And with Planet Organic, we thought we'd list with them for three years, and I was so focused on finding a factory that we missed the boat on getting it back to the freezer last year."
Investment and Aftermath
After concerns were raised by the Dragons, three pulled out of investing, leaving Tinie Tempah joining forces with Peter Jones, as they both sought a total of 30% for the sum Abilash was seeking.
Despite the success, Abilash has now revealed the difficulties she experienced getting the business to where it was. In a post on social media, she explained how she had "no money in the accounts" and "no way of making any ice cream".
She explained in the caption: "Last Thursday I told you I'm going on Dragon's Den. Here's the story of how it actually happened! At the start of last year, they emailed me. I ignored it. I'd just hit the lowest point in my business and had quietly decided I was done.
"The one thing I did for myself was book a retreat in Mexico as a thirtieth birthday gift, just to get clarity. There, I met a man who turned out to own an ice cream factory half an hour from my house. He offered to produce Moonji that summer.
"The night I flew home, my friend Corina told me I should apply to Dragon's Den. I told her I'd just gotten the email. Every hurdle after that solved itself the same strange way, right down to the friend who handed me his kitchen when I had no factory for filming day.
"None of it was planned. All of it was necessary. If you're sitting on something right now, you don't need the whole plan. Just take the next true step. The door opens when you need it to."
Dragons' Den is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
