An entrepreneur from Trinidad stole the show recently when she secured a €40,000 investment for her Caribbean food business on RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den.
Jennylynd James – whose Caribbean Enterprises firm is aimed at introducing Irish diners to cuisine from the West Indies – piqued the interest of dragons Niall O’Farrell and Sean Gallagher, who each stumped up €20,000 for a 25 per cent stake in the business to help put her products on supermarket shelves nationwide.
It’s a far cry from her humble beginnings selling sauces and seasonings at farmers’ markets just a few short years ago.
James set up the business in 2006 after moving here from California, where she had worked with the major food company Dole.
“It was a nice cushy job, but I was getting a bit bored, I was restless,” she told Metro Éireann about her decision to move to greener pastures.
She wasn’t long in the country before she noticed there was no one selling Caribbean food in Ireland. “I thought ‘Okay, here’s a niche I can start up,’” she says. “However, there are not many Caribbean people in Ireland, so I knew I would have to sell to an Irish public”
Undeterred, James took a course in basic business administration and set about sourcing her stock from Jamaican suppliers based in London, and later directly from Trinidad and Tobago.
By January 2008, Caribbean Enterprises had an entry in the prestigious Bridgestone Food Guide and two major awards to its credit.
Meanwhile, James was becoming a familiar face at farmers’ markets, rock concerts and food expos across Ireland as she set about promoting her Caribbean delights to a hungry public.
A few select Dublin retailers would soon feature her wares, and today the Caribbean Enterprises brand can be found in 20 shops across Ireland.
The first major turning point for James’ business came with her decision to scale down her imports and start creating products herself from her own recipes.
It soon led to a deal with a small Dublin-based food producer to produce her ‘Bad Boy’ pepper sauce, ‘Rasta Pasta’ sauce and ‘Banana Ketchup’ in quantity. But she would need more investment to take things to the next level. That’s when friends suggested she enter the Dragons’ Den.
James recalls: “The Dragons’ Den experience was surreal. I still can’t believe it’s over. Weeks of preparation for a two-minute pitch!
“I felt I had covered most bases when I went in, but then found I had to think on my feet, dust off the old business plan, and give it a complete makeover.”
While there were sceptics in the den who turned her down, two battle-hardened businessmen sensed an opportunity.
Dragons give James a grilling
Niall O’Farrell, founder of the Blacktie tuxedo rental chain, and Sean Gallagher, CEO of the audio-visual and IT company Smarthomes decided to give James a grilling – but it was worth the ordeal.
Each offered to invest €20,000 in return for a 25 percent stake in Caribbean Enterprises, with Gallagher describing it to Metro Éireann as “an exciting product and business”.
Says James: “The investment and experience of the dragons will give the company the kick-start needed to reach the next level.
“It is my dream that as the only producer of Caribbean sauces and seasonings in Ireland – we will have products at supermarkets nationwide.”
