Member Article

To the Dragons’ Den and beyond…

An evening with former ‘Dragon’ Rachel Elnaugh is now free to attend thanks to generous sponsorship from North East businesses. Northumberland Business Services Ltd (NBSL), Bdaily Business Network, Winns Solicitors, Northern Washrooms, Network North and BACK Consulting Limited are all sponsoring the event that follows the NorthEastExpo Autumn 2011 exhibition at Newcastle Racecourse on Wednesday 9th November.

Rachel Elnaugh is the entrepreneur who created the market leading experiences brand Red Letter Days at the age of 24 – which she grew from nothing, on a shoestring budget, into a £multi-million turnover household name. This won her an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002 and she was shortlisted for the 2001 Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Award.

Red Letter Days’ fell into administration in 2005, after the over-expansion of the business in 2002, gained huge media exposure…

Rachel says: “Five years ago my first business Red Letter Days was forced into administration by Barclays Bank – even though we had £3.3 million cash at bank – after a 16 year journey creating the company from nothing more than an idea, on a shoestring budget which built into a £multi-million turnover market leading brand contributing £13million to the coffers of UKplc in the years I ran it. I was left with no business, no income, a one week old baby, plus c£1million in personal debt. And, because I’d just been a Dragon on the very first series of BBCTV’s cult business show Dragons’ Den, the Press had a field day. It would have been so easy to roll over and die at that moment, give up and stay under the duvet. But that’s not what entrepreneurs do.”

Instead, Rachel chose to use her experiences in business to help other entrepreneurs on their journey – through speaking at business events, mentoring and advising about how to stay energised and positive even in the face of great adversity.

Rachel’s appearance as a ‘Dragon’ on the first two series of BBCTV’s Dragons’ Den in 2005 secured her celebrity entrepreneur status, which has resulted in over 300 engagements as a speaker and celebrity guest in the Enterprise Sector over the past five years.

On 1 June 2011 Rachel announced the ending of her Business mentoring programmes to allow her to focus on a major new business project, full details of which will be announced soon.

Rachel lives in Bakewell, Derbyshire with her husband Chris and five sons Mark, Paul, Eddie, Michael and Jack.

Click here to find out how to book your free ticket.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jonny Marshall .