London's entrepreneurs scared of Dragon Den's Deborah Meaden

The only female judge from BBC2 Investment programme “Dragons Den” has been voted the person that aspiring entrepreneurs in the Capital would least like to pitch their business idea to.

The poll was carried out by Business Link London, and questioned 720 aspiring entrepreneurs at the Business Startup show at London Olympia. Deborah Meaden received 21% of their votes, whilst James Caan was labelled a relative soft touch with just 7%. Remaining judges Theo Paphitis, Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne each received 10%.

Afsana Shukur, head of diversity and equality at Business Link London, a public sector organisation that provides free and tailored advice to female entrepreneurs to help them tackle the barriers they may face in business, said:

”There is no denying that Deborah's passion and direct approach has helped make her the successful business woman she is today. It’s unfortunate though, that many successful businesswomen tend to be viewed as domineering and aggressive. The UK lacks female entrepreneur role models that buck this traditional stereotype. It’s vital that women thinking of starting up a business aren’t deterred by this negative and outdated image. The softer skills that women often possess can help with the ability to coach, mentor and manage a thriving business. With just one in six of London’s businesses majority female-owned according to the most recent London Annual Business survey, there’s never been a better time for women to give men a run for their money and put their entrepreneurial skills to the test.”

As one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs, multi-millionaire Deborah launched her own glass and ceramics import company straight out of business college before setting up one of the first Stefanel Fashion franchises in the UK. She now devotes her time to finding good investment opportunities with several successful businesses in the leisure and retail sector.