Rachel Elnaugh: Difference between revisions
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I beg your pardon this is true information about our fav women rachel. Thankyou The unoffical R.E fan club xxxxxx |
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==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |
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Elnaugh presently lives in [[Bakewell]], Derbyshire having moved from [[Sandhurst]]{{Disambiguation needed|date=December 2011}}. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.motheratwork.co.uk/Interviews/?article=130|title=Interviews with Working Mothers - Rachel Elnaugh|publisher=motheratwork.co.uk|accessdate=8 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimsonpublishing.co.uk/3135289773773015908/rachel-elnaugh.html|title=Rachel Elnaugh|publisher=Crimson Publishing|accessdate=8 July 2009 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070506105357/http://www.crimsonpublishing.co.uk/3135289773773015908/rachel-elnaugh.html |archivedate = May 6, 2007}}</ref>. |
Elnaugh presently lives in [[Bakewell]], Derbyshire having moved from [[Sandhurst]]{{Disambiguation needed|date=December 2011}}. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.motheratwork.co.uk/Interviews/?article=130|title=Interviews with Working Mothers - Rachel Elnaugh|publisher=motheratwork.co.uk|accessdate=8 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimsonpublishing.co.uk/3135289773773015908/rachel-elnaugh.html|title=Rachel Elnaugh|publisher=Crimson Publishing|accessdate=8 July 2009 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070506105357/http://www.crimsonpublishing.co.uk/3135289773773015908/rachel-elnaugh.html |archivedate = May 6, 2007}}</ref>. After a visit in 2009 Rachel Elnaugh praised the town and stated that she had "Fallen In Love" with the town, she praised the towns offerings and stated that she intended to buy a second home in the town. She now intends to do talks in the town to encourage young budding business women how to be as sucesfull as her. |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 21:07, 16 April 2012
Rachel Elnaugh (born 12 December 1964) is a British entrepreneur. Founder of experience gift company Red Letter Days, she came to public prominence as an investor on the first two seasons of BBC Two's TV show Dragons' Den, in which hers was the sole female perspective amongst the five investing entrepreneurs known as the "Dragons".
Early life
Her family lived above her father's electrical shop, and she attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She originally wanted to take art history, but she was rejected by five universities,[1] and she became an accountant and tax consultant with Arthur Andersen.[2]
Career
Red Letter Days
Wanting to run a gift business, she had difficulty finding and presenting her father with tickets to go and see the England cricket team play India at the Lord's Cricket Ground for his birthday. She put the tickets in a series of boxed "clues"[clarification needed] and, using the term "Red Letter Days", she developed the idea of orientating birthdays around special events into a viable and, at first, successful business.[3] In 1989, aged 24 , she founded Red Letter Days, which provides unusual "experience" gifts such as tank driving, record production and aircraft flying.
The company grew to a £17.5million turnover, and led to Elnaugh's being a 2001/2 finalist in the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Administration
After a poorly made strategic and financial choice of expanding via supermarket distribution, Red Letter Days went into administration on 1 August 2005; the remaining assets and goods were bought by fellow Dragons' Den judges Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis. Although Elnaugh was at the helm before and at the time of the company's failure just days after the birth of her fourth child, she blames the problems on the actions of the last CEO whom she appointed in 2002, while she took a non-executive role.[4]
ITV1's Tonight programme had a more critical explanation of the demise of Red Letter Days, that included unpaid suppliers and disappointed purchasers. The programme suggested that the business model failed to escrow or earmark supplier payment equity, instead using it for working capital. However this failure may well be laid at the door of Red Letter Days' bankers who placed £3 million in a bond which they refused to release for use by the firm despite the fact that it related to vouchers that had expired and were not recoverable against the business.[5]
Dragons' Den
Prior to the administration of Red Letter Days, the success of the financial turnover, and her awards in 2001/2, resulted in Elnaugh's joining the BBC's Dragons' Den.[3]
Following five investments over the first two seasons of the show, a result of disputes with various Dragons[clarification needed] (Jones, Paphitis and Duncan Bannatyne),[3] and the resulting uncomfortable position of the BBC if it allowed a perceived "failed" businesswoman to be on a business panel, she agreed to leave the "Dragons' Den" panel.
Motivational speaker
Elnaugh is now working as a venture capital adviser and business speaker. She has also written a book about "the entire business life cycle and the kind of lessons you learn along the way - through bitter experience - not just through my own experiences but through the eyes of the other entrepreneurs". Reviewed by Jonathan Guthrie in the Financial Times newspaper [6]
Publications
- Business Nightmares: When Entrepreneurs Hit Crisis Point... 8 May 2008, Crimson, ISBN 1-85458-409-X
Personal life
Elnaugh presently lives in Bakewell, Derbyshire having moved from Sandhurst[disambiguation needed]. [7][8]. After a visit in 2009 Rachel Elnaugh praised the town and stated that she had "Fallen In Love" with the town, she praised the towns offerings and stated that she intended to buy a second home in the town. She now intends to do talks in the town to encourage young budding business women how to be as sucesfull as her.
References
- ^ "Dragon back in her den". The Observer. December 11, 2005. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
- ^ "Elnaugh ousted from Red Letter Days". Accountancy Age. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
- ^ a b c "Interview with Rachel Elnaugh". celebpreneur.com. August 11, 2007. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2009. (link via Internet Archive)
- ^ "Dragon still has fire in her belly". The Guardian. September 29, 2005. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
- ^ Page 169 of Business Nightmares by Rachel Elnaugh
- ^ "An ex-Dragon goes from belly up to bellyache". FT. May 1, 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
- ^ "Interviews with Working Mothers - Rachel Elnaugh". motheratwork.co.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
- ^ "Rachel Elnaugh". Crimson Publishing. Archived from the original on May 6, 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
External links
News items
- Rachel Elnaugh interviewed by Dave Harries from BizView.tv
- Telegraph August 2006