The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 6, 20 22 | 8 Existing Cabinets Made Functional with Custom Pull-Out Shelves YOUR DREAM KITCHEN WITHOUT THE RENOVATION Gain More Access with Optimized and Organized Cabinets and Containers FREE Design Consultation (289) 812-8952 shelfgenie.com Locally Owned & Operated - FULL SERVICE DESIGN & INSTALL -CUSTOM TO THE MILLIMETRE -LIFETIME WARRANTY How many people can say they have made a drag- on cry? Probably none. Yet mother-daughter business owners Amal Soliman and Gina El Kattan can say they moved at least one type of dragon to tears. They pitched their Oak- ville-based drink making business, Nuba, to the high powered entrepreneurs of "Dragon's Den" during a taping last June. That epi- sode aired Dec. 16. "Wow, she loves her mom," Arlene Dickinson said as she wiped away tears. She and co-host Wes Hall offered Soliman and El Kattan $75,000 for 20 per cent of their business. The duo accepted, passing on $150,000 for 30 per cent from Mr. Sunshine, Vin- cenzo Guzzo. "We did not see this part (Dickinson crying) be- cause this happened after we left. We turned around and left," mother Amal So- liman said. "We watched it yester- day and we were so touched. We couldn't be- lieve it. Arlene is such a gi- ant," El Kattan said. A certain amount of butterflies had to be dealt with going into the taping. While the show's visuals are a tapestry of sound ef- fects and music, the pair were stunned by the sheer silence of the studio. "(The studio crew) counted us down in dead si- lence," El Kattan said. "I re- member walking and then turning left and having the doors open and just feeling just like I could hear my heart beat out of my chest. I was so nervous, I thought I was going to pass out." If they were nervous, it didn't show on camera. The pair went into their pitch like it was well-prac- ticed. "When we moved to Canada from Egypt, we brought hibiscus flowers with us. It's been a staple in our culture for thousands of years," El Kattan told the Dragons. "We drink it all the time. It has been time tested for 7,000 years because it was one of the pharaohs' favou- rite drinks," Soliman add- ed. Soliman and El Kattan won over the Dragons with what goes into their tradi- tional Egyptian hibiscus infused drinks called ti- saines (pronounced tea- zahn), their story of com- ing to Canada as immi- grants and showing how close mom and daughter are. This was not their only win for 2021. The Oakville Beaver featured their busi- ness last September when they had won a $10,000 grant from credit card company Visa. They also said that Loblaws picked up its first order for the drinks the same day the "Dragon's Den" episode aired. Their plan is, according to El Kattan, to use the Dragon money to "expand our company further, get into more stores and just really expand our footprint so that people can find Nu- ba everywhere." LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS MOVE 'DRAGON'S DEN' HOST TO TEARS Amal Soliman and daughter Gina El Kattan present their company Nuba's tisane drink on "Dragon's Den". CBC photo MANSOOR TANWEER mtanweer@metroland.com NEWS MOTHER-DAUGHTER TEAM EARN MAJOR INVESTMENT