When brothers and business partners Calvin and Tlou Ledwaba appeared on Tuesday night's first episode of the debut season of reality show Dragon's Den SA, they reckoned they had developed a device to keep us organised during grocery runs.
Dragon's Den gives struggling entrepreneurs who believe they have a sound business idea a platform from which to make a three-minute pitch to a panel of business giants - with the prospect of securing funding and mentorship in exchange for equity in their businesses.
The Ledwabas asked for a R3.7-million investment for their Digital Trolley business and offered dragons Lebo Gunguluza, Vusi Thembekwayo, Polo Leteka Radebe, Gil Oved and Vinny Lingham 35% equity.
Explained one of the brothers to the Dragons: "The customer walks into a store and then uploads their grocery list.
"The machine will rearrange the list, advising the customer to start from the DIY or from the cosmetics section.
"But the emphasis here is not to start at the temperature-controlled products."
The brothers were rejected.
So was Hannes Lombard from Pretoria, who thought he had a "unique product" to offer cinemas - a popcorn-flavouring machine - and asked for a R1-million injection for 10% equity.
He had not approached cinemas yet and, as Oved said, he had "taken the fun out of popcorn - part of the fun is deciding how much you want and when".
It was a recurring theme throughout the hour-long episode, and, just when one had written the Dragons off as stingy, Radebe delved into her deep pockets and offered Lucky Moabi a R500000 investment for a 40% slice in the most colourless of all ideas - a hydraulic cylinder repair business aimed at mines.
Dragon's Den airs on Tuesdays at 7pm on Mzansi Magic.
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