Theo Paphitis at Dragons’ Den

Theo Paphitis at Dragons’ Den

Theo Paphitis is a successful entrepreneur of Greek Cypriot origin. He was well known by people for appearing in Dragons Den, the reality programme that lets contestants to pitch in their business ideas to gain funds. The Dragons or the panel of the capitalist will decide based on the contestants’ ideas whether or not to provide fund. In return the dragons get a certain percentage of the business; the dragons also join together to offer the amount requested by the contestant if they seem to be very prospective. Theo Paphitis is one of the successful businessmen in UK who gained popularity after entering into Dragon den. When Theo was six, he moved along with his family to England where he joined a school in North London. Theo was suffering from dyslexia, but this did not stop him to attain success and fame in his life. When he was 15, he ran his own school tuck shop and this was his first entrepreneurial experience.



He worked as filing clerk and tea boy at City of London Insurance broker. The pay offered was sufficient for him and his interest in sales and retails made him to join as sales assistant in Watches of Switzerland located in Bond Street. He joined Legal and General at the age of 21 where he was selling commercial mortgages. This is the place which taught him to read the businesses balance sheets. Then he planned for his own business set up, so he joined hands with his friend Mark Moran to execute his plans and successfully in 1980 he made his first money. The mobile phones market growth lured him and made him to buy NAG Telecom. Then in Ryman Stationery stores he gained concessionary positions leading to a larger market share for NAG.

Few years later Ryman went into receivership, Theo Paphitis decided to buy the company and spoke to the administrators. He improved the business of the company and made the company successful. This gained him more reputation as he turned a failing company into a prospective firm. Theo Paphitis Dragons Den happened in 2005 and he is on the show ever since. Among all the dragons, Theo was an approachable judge and had made many different investments in this reality show.

Theo Paphitis Dragons den profile is very interesting. People would have seen him invested on a number of companies solely or combined with other dragons. Always he had been a judge who is approachable and very amiable. In many occasions he has offered many advices in the show which are always not positive but are very constructive to the contestants. He does not mind getting his hands dirty to get know about a product. In the show you can see Theo Paphitis climbing into submarines, driving a small car and drinking a wine between all other things. In each of Theo Paphitis Dragon Den episode you can clearly see how well he understands the finances. It is well demonstrated in every show where he had pulled apart many pitches as the finances do not seem to be reasonable.

He also frankly tells his opinion about the ideas pitched by the contestants. Especially in series 8 Alex Lewis and Leticia Valentine appeared in the show to secure investment in “Survivor Jack”. Theo criticized about their business proposal that they had failed to perform realistic market research and also they had not tried to get discussion with buyers. At the same time not failed to appreciate serious business ideas in the Den. His wide knowledge in Business has helped him to judge the contestants ideas and secure the fund required by the contestants.

Theo Paphitis Dragon Den is more interesting with Deborah Meaden another dragon of the den. They both do not share the same back ground; Theo Paphitis is a well known retail expert while Deborah Meaden is known for her Marketing expertise. But they join together to form the great business partnership. They both add more value to ideas pitched to them, which are considered as the best business growth secrets. The combined experience and skill of Theo and Deborah will charge the entrepreneurs entering the Den with various ideas for long term business growth.

Among the various Business strategies, Theo Paphitis has excelled in knowing our environment strategy. If you watch Theo Paphitis Dragons Den you will come to know that he had thoroughly studied his business environment. Theo Paphitis plans big strategy meetings for his directors and managers; to plan and manage business development strategies, he sends them away twice a year.



Though Theo Paphitis has offered investment with partnership with other dragons, he is very successful in funding investments solely. He controls the game in an interesting manner and attains high level success. In the Dragons Den you can see the dragons fighting with each other to control the game. Theo Paphitis takes the control at ease and handles the situation wisely. He will never fail to identify the opportunity which will gain him profits by incorporating his business growth secrets. He knows that a prepared mind alone can grab the opportunity; so always Theo Paphitis Dragons Den is very exclusive

Outside the Dragon den show, Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones who is a fellow dragon in the den own a company called Red letter Days. This is a gift experience company in UK which provides excellent experience days. Besides this, Boux Avenue, Smarta and Ryman are the other businesses of Theo paphitis. Further in his book Enter the dragon, he tells the reader about behind scenes on Dragon Den. He also tells the reader how he achieved success and shares various Business methods which will help anyone to enhance their business acumen. This book is published by Orion Books which lets the readers to know the thoughts and aspirations of Theo paphitis. Anyone who reads will not only learn the business techniques but also know to effectively execute it. Theo Paphitis raked 581st in the 2008 Rich List published by Sunday times with estimated worth of 138 million pounds. It estimated worth increased to 165 million in 2009.