Thursday February 12th 2026
Business Fives founder, John McClarey, on next Thursday's episode of Dragon's Den
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Edinburgh-based entrepreneur John McClarey, founder of corporate charity sports events company Business Fives, is set to appear on an upcoming episode of Dragons’ Den, airing on BBC One and iPlayer on Thursday 19 February.
Founded in 2016 by McClarey without a seed of investment, Business Fives began as a single charity sports event in Edinburgh.
Growing to a multi-location operation spanning more than 50 cities across the UK and Ireland, McClarey described his experience in the Den as ‘one of the best things I’ve done in business’, presenting his beloved events company to the current Dragons.
From early beginnings ten years ago, the business delivers professionally organised football, golf, mixed touch rugby and esports events, alongside more sports, aiming to bring businesses together whilst also raising money for thousands of charitable causes and promoting employee engagement and networking.
Previously working in the charity sector, McClarey explained:
“I have always wanted to build a company and I have always loved events, going out to events and going to other people’s events.
“Having used to work in the charity sector I loved it because you were doing something worthwhile and giving something back, you had a good feeling at the end of it. I wanted to show that companies weren’t just all about profit, thinking that I wanted to create a good impact in the world.”
Noticing a gap in the market, McClarey created Business Fives with a strong charitable ethos.
“It was really about creating a different networking event, a team building event that was centred around sports that also had a really strong charitable ethos”, he explained, “Now all of our clients play for their own chosen charity, which is a really important driver.”
In the ten years since beginning the company, Business Fives has grown to have staff across Scotland, including Edinburgh, Haddington and Glasgow. Providing events for many companies, they now work with clients like PwC, eBay, HSBC and Sky.
John McClarey speaking at a Business Fives event
Describing his experience with Dragons’ Den as flattering, McClarey explained that he received a call out of the blue asking if he would be interested in being on the show.
“They said on the phone ‘have you ever thought about applying for Dragons’ Den?’, and I was flattered by that. It is so flattering to be approached in that manner and then it just snowballed”, he explained, “The email came through, it looked legit and the links worked, then I applied.”
McClarey explained that the process between receiving the initial phone call to standing in front of the Dragons was longer than expected.
“After applying you kind of celebrate every milestone, that you get to where you have a Zoom call set up with a researcher to discuss your application, and then you get a mini pitch. There are a lot of different hoops to jump through.”
Going through the various calls, McClarey landed his place to pitch his business in front of the Dragons and guest Dragon Tinie Tempah in what he called ‘an amazing experience to present the journey of Business Fives to entrepreneurs that I have held in high regard for many years’.
Landing an opportunity in front of the Dragons, McClarey hopes the TV exposure is a big boost for his company, explaining:
“It’s eyeballs that we have never had on our business before. Whenever I think about it in numbers, there’s going to be between two to four million people watching any of the episodes. 90% of them may not be our target audience but 10% might and if we can engage with 1% of that 10% then that could allow us to 10X our business.
“One of the things that we are hoping to get out of Dragons’ Den apart from the expertise and advice is increasing our event sponsorship offering, increasing our Business Fours portfolio of events and expanding some of the Golf events we do. I think some opportunities will come from it and it will hopefully spark and rekindle conversations.”
Already going through an expansion that sees events hosted abroad, alongside offering more sports such as the popular sport Padel Tenis, McClarey and his team have a milestone year following the Dragons’ Den appearance, showing excitement for their up-coming All Britain Finals in Leeds.
McClarey added: “We have got our All Britain Finals in Leeds in April which will be one the biggest events we do this year. People fly over from Dublin, Belfast for it, they will come up from Southampton, down from Aberdeen and it’s just a brilliant occasion.
“This year we’d also like to host some more international events so Dubai and Abu Dhabi are prime targets for us this year.”
Speaking ahead of the broadcast, he explained: “It was the best thing I’ve ever done in my adult life and certainly in business.
“I did skydiving once and that was tremendous but when the Dens elevator doors open and your heart rate goes off the charts, it’s just an amazing experience.”
Viewers will be able to see how John fares as he presents his business to the current Dragons: Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Steven Bartlett and guest Dragon Tinie Tempah on the 19th February.
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