Young Entrepreneur from a Scottish University spotted on Dragons’ Den
Nan Zhang
12/03/24
(Janani Prabhakaran making her pitch to the Dragons' Den panel, Image credit: BBC)
Five experienced and strict venture capitalists (also known as “dragons”) are sitting waiting for your pitch while you are surrounded by TV cameras. This is a one-take television show. Everything that is discussed and displayed will inevitably be shown to millions of people. And one of the five is firing the questions. It's a nerve-wracking scenario even for the most fearless. But as the tense background music began, Janani Prabhakaran, a 24-year-old entrepreneur, answered the questions calmly and with a smile.
Janani's pitch on the hit BBC show Dragons' Den, shown on 1st February, was highly impressive, despite having her business proposal rejected because of concerns over low profit margins.
"The comments were very unexpected. It took me a while to digest what exactly happened. And you're in front of camera so you cannot really cry or show anything dramatic. It was a bit unexpected, but I was excited” Janani told Blether Magazine.
Janani is the founder of Unbaggaged, which provides a service working with taxi drivers to collect and store bags, transporting them to travellers’ chosen destinations within a city.
This idea came from Janani’s personal experience. On one trip in London, she had to carry heavy bags around when sightseeing during the time between checking out of the hotel and boarding the plane. As someone who travelled a lot during her studies in Glasgow, Janani discovered that others shared these same issues when trying to store their luggage.
(Image credit: by Ian Taylor on Pexel)
Janani graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 2019, deciding to pursue her business idea and become an entrepreneur.
Janani said, “It always comes from a personal problem because that's where the passion for it gets triggered, most of the time at least.”
After overcoming significant challenges including the coronavirus lockdown, Janani launched Unbaggaged in 2021 in Edinburgh. And this luggage management network has since been brought to Glasgow.
“Since then, we have sold over 1,700 bags, have 475 short-term rental properties promoting our service against the commission” Janani introduced.
Entrepreneurship can be a challenge. It can be difficult to find a problem initially, and it can subsequently be more difficult to come up with an effective solution. Janani has family experience of entrepreneurship in India. Seeing her father running his business for almost 25 years gave Janani the opportunity to see what is involved:
“When I wanted to do something, my mind was prepared for it. This is how it's going to be. It's not going to be easy. You're probably going to be broken for a very long time and not be able to offer a lot of things that you used to be able to afford. But that's fine.”
The coronavirus lockdown, however, was certainly something unexpected.
Janani recalled, “We were so looking forward to getting the first customer, seeing the first review, all the firsts of the business world, right? That ambitions kind of threw us off. We don't know when it's going to be lifted, how is the travel industry going to be? There are a lot of uncertainties.”
But in line with the strong image she showed on Dragons’ Den, Janani jumped at the challenge with determination: “We expanded the team, got far, figured out a business model, made a sort of website a little bit more functional than what we had.”
Then on 10th June 2021, Unbaggaged got its first customer, around 10 days after the business launched.
(Janani Prabhakaran, Image credit: Sourced)
While every step forward in the entrepreneurship journey can be exciting, Janani never celebrates but just moves on to next challenge. Her morning mantra illustrates this mindset: “Get out of your bed, have a cup of coffee, start working and everything will be fine.”
As a young international entrepreneur in Scotland, Janani notes “the very fascinating thing about Scotland is that people are very lovely.”
Scotland is an ideal starting point for budding entrepreneurs. As Janani said: “When you're starting a business, Scotland is very small, especially in terms of tech industry. Everyone knows everyone. That kind of connection, that kind of networking and that kind of relationship make it easier for someone to make mistakes, grow and eventually build an ecosystem. It’s easier for entrepreneurs to survive. That's the point of being an entrepreneur in Scotland.”
And if you are also interested in kickstarting your own entrepreneurial venture, here is a “number one tip” from Janani.
“Launch quickly and it doesn't have to be perfect. Perfectionism kills entrepreneurship so never try to be perfect. And if you launch quickly, you'll be making mistakes quickly. You'll be making mistakes cheaply without causing your arm or leg, which no entrepreneur has money to afford.”