Entrepreneur wows Dragons to win £10k
AN EDGWARE entrepreneur has won a £10,000 grant to expand his business in a Dragons’ Den-style competition run by Work Avenue, judged by former Dragon Sarah Willingham.
Jonathan Schneider wowed the judging panel with his business Speak with Jack, an animated online English language learning programme for seven-to-14-year-olds.
Centred around the life of a 10-yearold boy, it teaches through a combination of high definition videos, games and quizzes. It has helped hundreds of children from countries including the UK, Israel, Turkey and Jordan to become more knowledgeable and confident English speakers.
Alongside Mr Schneider in the final three was Fernanda Schwarz of Eurocitizen, a consultancy helping those with European ancestry to obtain European citizenship, and Joshua Baron of Port & Bello, a brand of treatment-accessible clothing for cancer patients.
Ms Willingham said it had been “genuinely so difficult to decide upon a winner out of three wonderful finalists”.
But she and fellow judges — Steven Mendel, CEO and co-founder of insurance company ManyPets and investor and mentor Jonathan Werth — agreed that Speak with Jack was “the business we would back as investors and the one we felt has the greatest chance of making it really big.
“We love the fact that the product is so scalable, which makes it a very investable opportunity. And we could see just how tenacious Jonathan is.”
The winner, an Edgware Adath Yisroel member, said he would use the money to cover web hosting and social media costs. “I am so happy to have won and I am equally grateful for the vital support I and my business have received from the Work Avenue team every step of the way.”
The contest was the culmination of Work Avenue’s business accelerator programme, which saw 13 handpicked budding entrepreneurs take
an intensive six-week training programme covering all aspects of starting and developing a business.
Each then pitched their business idea to the Work Avenue team, with the three finalists selected to compete for the £10,000 prize, donated by a supporter of the charity.
CEO David Arden was “blown away by the passion, commitment and innovation of all the businesses that took part. Every one of them is a winner, taking a significant step forward in realising their business dream.”
We love the fact that the product is a very investable opportunity