Gary said: “I am excited to join the Dragons, and to meet the entrepreneurs brave enough to face us in the Den. I hope my personal journey shows that you can take the experiences you’ve had in one part of your career and use them to do something entirely different and make it a success. Business is all about managing people and managing yourself and I’m looking forward to sharing my experience to help the entrepreneurs we’ll meet in the Den reach their potential.” Bringing bounds of valuable business experience and global brand-building acumen, Emma Grede is the pioneering architect of multiple fashion, retail and lifestyle brands, worth billions of dollars.Recognised as one of America's Richest Self-Made Women by Forbes, she is the co-founder and CEO of Good American, which she established in 2016 alongside Khloé Kardashian, as well as the founding partner of shapewear brand SKIMS. Emma also co-founded plant-powered cleaning brand Safely. Her passion and unwavering dedication to empowering women and championing social impact extends far beyond the fashion and retail landscapes. She continues to advocate for representation across industries, while serving as Chairwoman of The Fifteen Percent Pledge. Meaden and Jones' enthusiasm wasn't initially shared by Suleyman who had some concerns: “The fact that you're focusing on dating apps, surely when most of them go out of business and the top 20 or 50 apps are there, you're going to run out of business”.

With 40% of TikTok’s UK audience coming from the Gen Z age group, young people are leading the charge and trying to make a difference to society.3 But Brits of all ages are embracing this resourceful attitude, with a fifth (20%) of people in the UK saying that individuals have more responsibility for supporting sustainable initiatives than corporations or international organisations.4 These days, he only has one employee – his personal assistant. “The other jigsaw pieces are lawyer, accountant and brand manager. Between them, it really helps to run the brand together.” Some aspects of disinformation are relatively straightforward and its seem almost bizarre that social-media companies have proven unable to deal with them, though much of it seems to stem from unwillingness. One example is the type of fake ad that plagues the likes of Martin Lewis and the judges on Dragons' Den. Their faces and names are used aggressively by a variety of scams, ranging from food supplements to cryptocurrency cash-ins, in ads dressed up to look like news stories. Suleyman followed Jenkins on the grounds that stove manufacturers could solve the problem more efficiently, while an uneager Jones said he would “rather eat salad for a year” than invest. Willingham didn't have much more enthusiasm for the product and also exited the deal.

Credits

A pitch given by Sam Jones, founder of Gener8 Ads. A near perfect example of talking us through the problem they were looking to solve, how they are were going to solve it and how we as investors were likely to make a return. All of its ranges are sold internationally and are designed and manufactured at its 6,000 sq ft Newcastle headquarters. Each of us has our own unique perspective, are strong characters and all have an appetite for good negotiation – the perfect recipe for a competitive environment… so yes! She said: "I liked Dan the moment I met him and I really resonated with his commitment to giving all people, from all walks of life, the chance to grow their own vegetables. This level of passion, along with a strong concept, is critical for business success so I'm looking forward to seeing him developing and growing his fantastic brand." Read on for the business lessons you can learn from this week's hit and miss pitches… Steven Reynolds

Meaden matched this offer – all of the money for 20% – and said she'd also be happy to share. The first full house of offers in the Den for a long time, Suleyman was motivated to change tact and offered all the money for 15%. You have no proven business model whatsoever. You've just got an agreement which you've agreed to trial. […] This doesn't actually give you any validation for your business”. The Dragons were clearly impressed by the confident pitch and their sales so far. One of the key selling points for me was their success in securing licensing from several high-profile football clubs. From West Ham and Chelsea, stretching over the pond to the US NFL, the duo held an impressive array of licences. A winning licencePOLICY & ENGAGEMENT We’re influencing policy through the National Engineering Policy Centre – providing independent expert support to policymakers on issues of importance. We’re engaging the public by opening their eyes to the wonders of engineering and inspiring young people to become the next generation of engineers. This week saw one of the show's “most appealing” entrepreneurs secure offers from all five Dragons after a winning pitch for a dating app development company. Dragons’ Den is one of those rare programmes where families across all the generations can sit, watch, debate and have a view on, from great grandchildren to great grandparents and everyone in between. It also lifts the lid on the many faces of business. Seeing different people, businesses and ideas inspires so many to think of going into Business for themselves and in doing so literally changes lives. It helps to have something or someone to keep you going when you go through a tough patch. “It had to be my Rastafarianism,” Roots said, “But it could be your dog, cat or friend.” Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “We’re delighted to have Deborah Meaden involved with National Engineering Day. Her passion and dedication to sustainability are an inspiration to entrepreneurs across the UK, and we hope her commitment to innovation will help stimulate a new generation of creators.

TALENT & DIVERSITY We’re growing talent by training, supporting, mentoring and funding the most talented and creative researchers, innovators and leaders from across the engineering profession. We’re developing skills for the future by identifying the challenges of an ever-changing world and developing the skills and approaches we need to build a resilient and diverse engineering profession. You are the longest serving dragon and have been a part of the series since the beginning. Do you have any stand out or favourite moments during your time on the show? Starting a business can be pretty simple but it is rarely easy. Having a great idea is the start but being able to deliver on that idea is what turns it into a business. Some people think they want to start their own business but when they realise the risks involved or the personal attention it takes it just doesn’t suit .It is also about timing…a great idea at the wrong time will fail, or starting a business at the wrong time for you personally can also lead to failure BUT and here is the big but…turn that on its head…have that great idea, work out how to deliver on it and launch at the right time and it can be the most rewarding, satisfying thing you will ever ever do. It's time to stop treating social-media products as entirely neutral platforms and make them act more in line with the role of publisher. That's one of the main conclusions of the the House of Commons committee for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It’s a really good way of getting parents to sit down with their kids and spend some quality time together, but it’s also all about teaching kids. The plants are all edible so they can eat the food that they’ve grown and it’s a really exciting way to engage kids with gardening and growing their own.’The Den's best pitch yet? With five offers on the table, this week's final contender was Manchester-based John Kershaw. He was pitching his business M14 Industries – a company that creates simple, niche dating apps, which combine the specificity of a service like Match.com with the simplicity of swiping apps like Tinder. The new series reflects the state of the world we live in; people are struggling, the tectonic plates underneath them have moved, but despite that there is a huge amount of entrepreneurial hope and optimism in the Den. As it relates to the Dragons, the temperature in the den is hotter than ever before - more fire, more fun and lots of businesses getting funded!

As Roots says, nobody has a right to a market, so you have to go and find your own: “We went to anywhere with ‘shire’ at the end of it. We wanted to introduce Caribbean food outside the local area. Find your market – they’re out there!” Peter Jones was first to give the micro-camper a go, trying out the bed for size- which showed it could comfortably fit a person of any height. The Dragons were equally as impressed by the sales Jason had made in the last 12 months. The van conversion also caught the eye of craft queen and mum, Sara Davies, sharing how her dad recently built her a campervan! People are often perturbed or turned off at the idea of planting seeds because there’re lots of complexities – soil depths, pH, amount of water, etc. But with our products we try to basically eliminate as many complexities as possible so that it’s minimum effort, maximum output. Just plant it, set it, forget it, and away it goes. Founded in response to the growing popularity of wood burning stoves in modern homes, Autoblaze's fan-based ignition system is able to “fully establish” a fire in just five minutes using super heated hot air. Davies, who founded Crafter's Companion from her university bedroom in 2005, granted Robson all of the money in exchange for a 20 per cent share of the business.I think it's reminded me that when it comes to business, it's just business, it's not personal. For example, during my first series when Will from MakTok came in, it was such an emotional pitch and I definitely got caught up in the moment and in my heart I knew I wanted to offer him the money. Afterwards, Deborah told me she thought what I'd done was lovely but that I needed to toughen up! And she was right!