CBC announced today the addition of Michele Romanow and Manjit Minhas to DRAGONS’ DEN, rounding out the panel to join Joe Mimran, Jim Treliving and Michael Wekerle for the all-new 10th season. Twenty-nine-year old Romanow, co-founder of Buytopia.ca and recent star of CBC’s NEXT GEN DEN, is the youngest Dragon to ever join the franchise. Also joining the show is Minhas, co-founder and co-owner of Minhas Breweries and Distillery. The two women bring with them new areas of expertise, complementing the already impressive lineup of Dragons this season.
“It promises to be an exciting 10th season of Dragons’ Den, with Manjit and Michele rounding out the panel,” said Jennifer Dettman, executive director, Unscripted Content, CBC. “Both of these women are accomplished entrepreneurs. Michele is a millennial on a mission, having built four successful companies before her 29th birthday, and Manjit’s entrepreneurial expertise covers everything from product development, marketing, manufacturing to global distribution. They’re definitely fantastic additions to the Den.”
With four businesses, an engineering degree and an MBA under her belt, Michele Romanow brings a diverse background to the Den. She launched her first business, Tea Room - a zero-consumer-waste coffee shop - on campus in 2006 while studying engineering at Queen’s University. She then created Evandale Caviar, a vertically integrated fishery that distributed high-end sturgeon caviar to luxury hotels and restaurants. Romanow’s current passion lies in developing tech businesses. After building up Buytopia.ca, one of Canada’s top daily-deal sites (recently ranked number three on Canada’s list of fastest-growing companies), she created her latest venture, Snapsaves, a mobile savings platform which was recently acquired by American couponing giant Groupon. Romanow has been featured on the list of 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada and Forbes chose her as the only Canadian to rank as one of the top 20 most disruptive ‘Millennials on a Mission.’ The Calgary native currently lives in Chicago.
Along with the addition of these two new Dragons, CBC will say goodbye to Vikram Vij, who will be leaving the show to focus on growing his businesses. In his time with DRAGONS’ DEN, Vij made deals with several new businesses. He’s now looking forward to introducing a new a Vancouver-based flagship restaurant and expanding his frozen food sales further into eastern Canada.
Production for DRAGONS’ DEN’s landmark tenth season will begin at the CBC Broadcasting Centre in Toronto on April 13th.
The current season of DRAGONS’ DEN airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC Television.
DRAGONS’ DEN continues to reach an average audience of about 1 million Canadians each week.
Find the show online:
@cbcdragon #cbcdragonsden
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A space for us all is CBC/Radio-Canada’s new strategy to modernize the public broadcaster and ensure that it continues to fulfill its mandate for Canadians and for future generations. Through to 2020, it will increase its investment in prime time television programming, and continue to create radio programs of the highest quality, while promoting the development of digital and mobile platforms and content.
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For more information, please contact:
Kylie McGregor
entertainment publicist, CBC
416 205 8638 (office) / 416 948 6181 (mobile)
