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Phone tycoon joins African Dragons
Simon Kirby29 Jul 2008
A London entrepreneur who made his fortune selling mobile phone ringtones has joined the Dragons' Den panel.
But Alexander Amosu will not be sitting alongside Duncan Bannatyne and Co - he is starring in an African version of the BBC reality show.
Amosu, who was 24 when he launched a company selling urban music ringtones, has just finished filming the first series of Dragons' Den Nigeria, which premiered on Sunday.
The 33-year-old, born in the UK to Nigerian parents, began his business at a Wood Green council home. It led to a £10million fortune.
He said: "When they [Nigerians] heard that one of the guys who first launched an urban ringtones company across Europe was a Nigerian it gave the nation an uplift because every time the Europeans look at us, all they know is the fraud stuff.
"To have someone young like myself who has been able to achieve... is to take that negative and turn it into positive." The Dragons' Den format invites budding entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to a panel of business experts in the hope of attracting investment.
Mr Amosu said he was sufficiently impressed to buy into two businesses.
One was producing greeting cards in traditional languages, the other a 118-style directory inquiries service, something the 33-year-old said was sorely lacking in Nigeria.
"If you wanted to find a pizza, or whatever the food is over there, there's no guided system that does that," he said. "There's a lot of opportunity. Things we take for granted over here, over there it's a money maker."
Mr Amosu, who now sells phones having disposed of his ringtones business in 2004, said: "When you are of African origin, you are not quite complete unless you've been successful in Africa itself.
"So this is a perfect opportunity for me to get into the marketplace and invest in businesses so I have some stake in those countries."
Mr Amosu still gives free business advice in Haringey, which this year awarded him its Best Entrepreneur award.
He said he appreciated the "pat on the back" but insisted he had his sights set higher. "I don't think I've done anything yet. I look up to people like Alan Sugar and Duncan Bannatyne, all these guys who have really made an impact in the UK. I want to be more successful than they are."
Dragons' Den Nigeria is on Sky channel 198.
