The success of Tej Lalvani
Tej Lalvani is the CEO of Vitabiotics, the largest vitamin company in the UK, while also being one of the stars of the hit BBC show, Dragon’s Den. Vitabiotics was founded by Tej’s father, Professor Kartar Lalvani in 1971 and has experienced phenomenal growth since then. The company now turns over £300 million annually and is renowned for producing many of the UK’s number one selling vitamins. Below, we explore the success of Tej Lalvani, Vitabiotics and his role on Dragon’s Den.
Tej Lalvani
When Tej began working in his father’s business, it was a much smaller operation. Tej took a hands-on role and would help out in every aspect of the business: from working in the warehouse to helping out with the marketing strategy. Having overseen the company growing into one of the UK’s leading vitamin providers, Tej often emphasises the importance of growing your own business rather than selling early. And this mindset has spread to his role as a Dragon on Dragon’s Den. As an investor, Tej stresses the importance of honesty and transparency. On top of this, Tej always looks to invest in entrepreneurs who have shown resourcefulness – some of the most successful businesses are formed by those who are hungriest to succeed.
Dragon’s Den
Tej is just one of many successes on Dragon’s Den. The show has made plenty of canny investments over the years. Arminder Singh Dhillon managed to receive sizable backing from the dragons at the age of just 15, after impressing them with his product Boot Buddy. Meanwhile, children’s book specialist, Wonderbly, received the best equity deal in the history of the show when they received £100,000 for a four per cent stake from the dragons. Since then, Wonderbly has been acquired by Graphite Capital after posting sales of £26.1m for the year ending May 2020.
Vitabiotics
But what is Tej’s business, Vitabiotics? It’s a leading UK based vitamins brand. And after partnering with the Alibaba Group and the Lazada Group, the business is set to roll out across Asia, accelerating its growth further. The growth of Vitabiotics can partly be put down to its clever use of celebrity endorsements: both Nicole Scherzinger and David Gandy are involved in their marketing campaigns. On top of this, by partnering with a loyalty program, Vitabiotics expenditure has increased by 67% compared to their guest visitors and a repeat purchase of 43%. Since working with Loyalty Lion, Vitabiotics customers now receive benefits for continually purchasing products from Vitabiotics.
Tej Lalvani and Vitabiotics are a modern success story for growing a business. And it’s fitting that Tej was able to help other businesses take the first step toward major growth by starring on Dragon’s Den and investing in other proactive, resourceful companies.
