Dragons Invest Thousands In Chichester Student’s Nutrition Business

Saturday, 19 June 2021 06:00

A student from the University of Chichester is working with the Dragons’ Den tycoons after the business he joined as a founding member appeared on the hit BBC show.

Young entrepreneur Nathan Abbott is among the owners of start-up firm Nutri-Genetix, which makes genetically-personalised meal-shakes based on DNA.

The 24-year-old, who oversees its digital marketing, said business has boomed since the company secured £50,000 from two Dragons.

Nathan, now heading into the final year of his BSc (Hons) in Digital Marketing, said:

“It was an intense experience – we spent a lot of time preparing the pitch.

“Sadly, I couldn’t be on the set, because of Covid, but I did make the packing for each Dragon’s personalised shake – I must have checked the spelling of their names about 100 times. BBC filming took two hours, and we secured funding from Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman.”

Pride of Britain award-winner Nathan has raised thousands for children born cleft palates worldwide

The university student, from Littlehampton, is a Pride of Britain award-winner who has funded surgery and helped care for thousands of cleft children in the developing world.

Nathan himself was born with a cleft lip and palate and was tragically bullied throughout his younger years. He channelled his adversity into sport and now talks openly about his experiences – while competing in extreme challenges with his fundraising movement Freestyle 4 Smile.

Nathan said:

“Growing up with a facial difference, I was constantly pushed down and I felt worthless, so I had to fight to give myself some purpose.

“I started openly sharing my stories of going through 30 operations, not only to raise awareness of cleft lip and palate, but to inspire others that life is worth living, even when going through adversity.

“When I got the Pride of Britain award, I realised I wasn’t just nothing, people’s lives were better because of my work, and it was the proudest moment of my life.”

With more business ventures planned, Nathan said he remains committed to fundraising for children in need of cleft lip and palate surgery.

“I’m determined to get the most from life. If you do a few little things each day, over the years it adds up to a lot of change.”