Students at the University had the rare opportunity to observe a real-life Dragon’s Den style investors meeting.

The Kent Investors Network held its February meeting at the Kent Business School’s Canterbury campus with five businesses seeking investment.

Usually such meetings are held strictly in private, with only potential investors and businesses invited. The chance for students to see behind the scenes has come about through the business school’s wide contacts with the county’s business community.

For students on the Business Start-Up Journey – the business school’s flagship student enterprise programme – it was the chance to see how potential investors quiz a business looking for backing.

At the end of the Journey, selected students will themselves pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, hoping to win a cash award to develop their business.

Student, Jai Sun, said: “This was an excellent event. We are getting so much help learning how to run our own businesses. It is excellent.”

The Kent Investors Network was founded in 2009 and is comprised of a group of angel investors who consider investing in high-growth businesses or start-ups seeing funding.

Typical investments range from between £50,000 to £1million. Members are generally successful business people from a range of backgrounds including finance, ecommerce and marketing.