Lorenzo Borghese may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he was soon to spit this out and relinquish his noble Italian ancestry by moving to the United States when he was just five years old. Apart from a few years studying in central Florida, the “Prince” has lived in the Northeast, and in his beloved Manhattan since 1997.

37-year-old Borghese can trace his ancestry all the way back to Pope Paul V and his family name is steeped in Italian history and folklore. He spends little time focusing on his background and is largely Americanized with a poor command of his native tongue.

One thing that he did pick up from his family however is the entrepreneurial bug. Grandmother Marcella Borghese founded her own cosmetics company which was to became part of the giant Revlon in the ‘eighties. Lorenzo applied a twist to this idea and founded a line of luxury pet care products using all natural ingredients. In 2003, after he had received his MBA from Fordham University in New York, he founded Royal Treatment which has since grown to offer almost 100 products for your pampered pets. “People spend so much time and money dressing their dogs in outfits, but I realized that the multi billion dollar pet industry was void of bath and body pet products. The way I see it, any problem creates opportunities. If you see a problem, fix it”.

Borghese believes in a hands on approach and is heavily involved in the day-to-day operation of the company. “I’m working 7 days a week. Even if I’m on vacation, it can be difficult to relax because I can never let go of my company. Whether I’m approving art work or ingredients, I’m involved with everything”. He firmly believes that you have to stand out to succeed and believes that he has filled a much needed niche in the marketplace. Major expansion plans include the creation of private label products for various pet stores and an expansion into the far east. “Tough situations happen every day. There’s always something new that happens that’s a problem.”

Whilst Borghese is involved in several successful ventures, including GTE Partners (a private label Italian cosmetics concern, headquartered in New Jersey) and Multimedia Exposure Inc. (television direct marketing and distribution) he has achieved some notoriety from his appearance on the television show The Bachelor. This ABC TV production is a popular reality show and pitted him against 25 women through a search to find true love.

Despite his TV fame Borghese has his nose firmly to the entrepreneurial grindstone and has recently expanded his love for pets through the foundation of a social networking site, nuzzleplanet.com. When not working he can often be found helping numerous animal shelters throughout the country.

He firmly believes in doing “what you love to do” and being passionate about your work. Much of his business endeavors surround pet care as this is clearly one of the loves of his life. “People who complain all day and hate their jobs are not usually doing something that they love. Do what you’re good at doing. I have a friend who recently decided to open a car wash and now he can enjoy it and grow his business because he likes what he is doing.”

Matthew Toren