Alan Gilette melted the hearts of even the toughest dragons on BBC’s Dragons’ Den.
The Kent-based entrepreneur was looking for a £40,000 investment for 10% of his business, The Extra Hand.
He described his product as ‘an unrivalled, hands-free dust extraction attachment for vacuums’ which ‘effectively removes all of the dust and debris when drilling, cutting, and grinding.’
However, there was much more to his story which, ultimately, swayed tough guy Peter Jones to give Alan ‘a break’.
After going blank early on in his pitch on Thursday’s episode, the businessman managed to pull it back together, sharing his powerful story of loss with the panel.
‘In 2006, I invented it,’ he began, explaining how his brand came to be.
‘I left it in the cupboard until my mum got cancer and I had to stop work because I was looking after her,’ he bravely shared.
‘My mum unfortunately passed. It took me a while to recover from that. But then, my wife and I, we were like, “Ok, we’re gonna do this”, and we picked it up again.
‘And then she was diagnosed with cancer.’
Alan continued with his devastating story: ’11 weeks later, she died.
‘It’s taken me a couple of years to get to a point where I was able to do it for myself.’
Alan concluded by sharing that he and his current partner teamed up last February to get his business up and running properly, and it’s ‘flown ever since’.
Understandably, there was an outpouring of support from the Dragons.
‘My deepest sympathies for what’s happened,’ Peter told him.
‘Admirable that you’re still staying strong, so well done, brilliant.’
He also congratulated Alan on his product, which he genuinely thought was ‘really clever’.
Not all the Dragons were so convinced, though, and had reservations about investing.
Fortunately, Peter was firmly Team Alan, and was determined to back him.
As a result, Mr. Global offered the full £40k investment for 25% of Alan’s business, which he gladly accepted, declining Touker Suleyman’s proposal.
‘I can get this out in the market for you, with myself and my team, very easily,’ the businessman told the hopeful.
‘When you meet somebody who needs a break and see an opportunity to make a great return on your investment.’
Alan told cameras after his success that he knows his late mum and wife would be ‘proud’ of him.
‘With Peter at my side, there’s not a mountain I’m not gonna conquer,’ he said confidently.
Dragon’s Den continues next Thursday at 8pm on BBC One.
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