Gavin Wheeldon (born 12 May 1976) is a British Businessman, self-made millionaire and entrepreneur from the Manchester area who has been on TV programmes such as The Secret Millionaire and Dragons' Den (UK).[1]
Gavin was born in Leicester, UK but during his life has moved 16 times around the world and the UK including Canada, South Africa, Namibia and Salford.
Gavin started working life at 11 by doing odd jobs like cleaning windows and tidying gardens. By the time he was 14 he was working evenings and weekends in Telesales for a kitchen company.
After leaving school Gavin went on to do a Btec in Computer Studies while continuing to work by selling windows and then, at the age of 19, going on to become Sales Manager for a Government Magazine selling advertising space. It was leading on from this that Gavin started his first business venture, Government Information Bureau. However, this business failed and Gavin returned to work for an IT Company dealing with Content Management Systems and later moving to a language translation company based in Leeds, UK.[2]
After gaining experience working in the language translations industry Gavin spotted a gap in the market as no companies at the time were making the most of technological advances. This led to the launch of his own business,[3] in 2003, which in 2009 had an annual turnover of £6.2m GBP. The company's accounts show it made a profit £77,000 after tax in 2009. The accounts say that it "meets its day to day working capital requirements through a mezzanine funding arrangement" paying a 10 percent interest rate, secured against all of the assets of the company. Applied Language Solutions was awarded a major contract to supply interpreters to the criminal justice system in the UK, however the majority of registered police and court interpreters refused to sign up with the company, leading to questions in Parliament as to whether the contract was viable. [4] On 23rd December 2011 he sold the company initially for 7.5 million. [5] [6]
In January 2010 Oldham Council set up a Business Leadership Group, of which Gavin is a member. The group comprises 14 local business owners who are giving their own free time to advise Oldham Council and local regeneration body Oldham Partnership on economic policy matters.[7]
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In 2007 Gavin's business was awarded the AXA Small to Medium Business of the Year at The National Business Award[8]
Also in 2007, Gavin was awarded Institute of Directors Director of the Year Award and in December, gained the IoD Diploma in Company Direction.[9]
In April 2010 Gavin's company was awarded The Queen's Award for Enterprise.[10]
In 2007 Gavin took part in the Channel 4 program The Secret Millionaire[11] embarking on a 10 day secret mission to Rhyl, North Wales. During which time he visited several volunteer groups and charitable individuals. To the present day, Gavin keeps in contact with the organisations and individuals he met whilst taking part in the program.
As a self-made Business Man, Gavin believes in giving back to the local community as well as on a global scale. From giving talks at local primary schools to sponsoring children in India to pay for their education.