Dragons' Den - 28 September 2011

Last updated 12th December 2011

This Dragons Den Event was sponsored by the Cooperative Bank. Five teams from across Birmingham City Council’s six directorates braved the dragons in a bid to implement their ideas or service improvements.

The first team to enter the den was the team from Warwick House Children Home, Children Young People and Families Directorate. The team wanted £1000 to be able to install a home entertainment concept. The team believe the entertainment system will help the children with social inclusion and help develop skills, and offer a better quality of life.

The centre have helped thousands of children in Birmingham over the last 20 years and in June 2011 received an ‘outstanding’ rating by Ofsted.

As part of their presentation, the team quizzed the dragons on information given as part of the presentation, the dragons were paying attention as they got the questions right.

The panel were impressed with the team’s presentation and felt that the bid was a worthy addition to the quality of life for the children at the centre. They were very happy to support the team and awarded them the £1000.

Well done team.

The second team in front of the dragons was the partnership between Selly Oak Constituency office and Baverstock School. The presentation was given by the school children, supported by teachers and council staff. The bid was to continue with the successful pilot scheme to reduce the dog fouling in the Druids Heath area. The issue was raised by the school children and it is the children who have taken control of piloting the solution. Regular focus groups take place with teachers, children and the council staff to raise awareness and tackle the issues.

The dragons were very impressed with the presentation, they were very happy to support the children’s enthusiasm and commitment to the project.

The third team into the den was the Adult and Children’s Audit Team from Corporate Resources. The team wanted help to raise awareness and improve the risk register reports in schools across Birmingham.

The money would be spent on taster sessions highlighting the beneficial reasons of the risk registers and how to compile them. These sessions would also raise the profile of the audit team and continue to foster the positive relationships that have already been built.

The dragons felt that this issue was very important and they would fully support the team.

Paul Robertshaw from the Road Safety Team, within the Development Directorate braved the dragons on his own. His bid was to utilise the two fold up bikes currently at Lancaster Circus offices and promote the benefits of cycling within the council. Paul wanted to use the funding from Dragons Den to set up proper lessons for staff wanting to use the bikes and make sure they were fully maintained, plus be able to provide users with the correct safety equipment.

The dragons asked Paul to work in partnership with the Working for the Future transformation team to help implement this idea but they thought the idea was great and should definitely be promoted.

The last team of the day was the Kings Heath Park team. The team wanted funding to re-populate the beds in the park, selling the surplus plants in the nursery. The team had done their research and put together a business plan for the next few years, showing that the investment from the Dragons could produce not only savings for the council in the future but also kick start the parks own income generating. The dragons were extremely impressed with the idea and the team’s enthusiasm plus the work that they had done for the idea. They were very happy to support the idea and awarded the team £1000.

Well done to all our teams, there were some great ideas presented.

The next Dragons’ Den event will take place on 8 February 2012. Application closing date is 10 January 2012, for more information please contact Charlotte Ody on 0121 675 1579 or via Lotus Notes.