Rachel Elnaugh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rachel Elnaugh (born 12 December 1964) is a British entrepreneur, who came to prominence as an investor on the BBC Two TV series Dragons' Den in which her female perspective provided a contrast for the more experienced and professional Dragons.

She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She originally wanted to take art history, but a bad teacher's reference led to her becoming an accountant instead.

At just 24, she became founder and Chief Executive of the UK company Red Letter Days, which provides unusual "experience" gifts such as tank driving, record production and aircraft flying.

The company went into administration in 2005; the remaining assets and good will were bought by two of Rachel Elnaugh's fellow Dragons' Den judges (Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis). They did not 'rescue' the company, as inaccurately reported elsewhere - customers and suppliers both lost money owed or events paid for, and those debts were not honoured by the new owners. Although Elnaugh was at the helm before and at the time of the company's failure, she blames the problems on the actions of the last CEO who she appointed in 2002, whilst she took a non-executive role.

ITV's 'Tonight Programme' (often itself accused of sensationalism over balance^{[citation needed]}) has a somewhat more critical explanation of the demise of Red Letter Days, including unpaid suppliers and disappointed purchasers, including the business model which failed to escrow or earmark supplier payment equity, instead using it for working capital.

Elnaugh is now working as a venture capital adviser and business speaker.