Levi Roots says ‘Dragon’s Den’ and his mentor Peter Jones have made business "cool".
The 59-year-old entrepreneur’s life was changed forever 10 years ago when he stood in front of the Dragons on the BBC business show and pitched his unique Reggae Reggae Sauce winning a £50,000 investment from Peter and Richard Farleigh for 40 per cent of his company.
Shortly after his appearance on the programme Sainsbury’s announced that they would be stocking the sauce in 600 of their stores and the jerk barbecue condiment has been used by major eateries such as KFC and Domino’s Pizza.
Over the past decade, Levi’s relationship with Peter, 51, has gone from being strictly about business to a close friendship and he insists the original ‘Dragon’s Den’ panellist has done a lot to show kids that starting you own company is an exciting adventure.
He told BANG Showbiz: "Myself and Peter’s relationship has gotten a lot stronger over the last 10 years; we have a lot more business together starting with Reggae Reggae Sauce and now we have 50 different products and we’ve gone into the restaurant business and we have or own rasta-raunt! It’s been a fantastic journey so far, we share a common ground that we’re very business minded and we’re both hard workers. We’ve become great friends.
"The show has been a fantastic thing for business, ‘Dragon’s Den’ has brought business into the rock ‘n’ roll era, and has inspired lots of young people. ‘Dragon’s Den’ showed people the process, and brought celebrity culture to the world of business. If you asked kids about entrepreneurship, they didn’t see it as cool. But then it was on TV and they could learn about it and see that business is not boring and it can be fun and cool. Now people look at Peter Jones as though he’s a hero, that would’ve never have happened in my day."
Although he took his opportunity on ‘Dragon’s Den’ and built a hugely successful business, Levi isn’t interested in ever sitting on the panel as he’s content to be the guy that "slayed" the Dragons.
Speaking ahead of the release of his new compilation album ‘Levi Roots Presents Reggae Reggae Hits’, he said: "I could never be a Dragon, I’m the guy who slayed the Dragons!"
‘Levi Roots Presents Reggae Reggae Hits’ is out now.
Levi Roots says Dragon’s Den has made business ‘cool’
