Another Dragon from the den here, and although not as wealthy as our other entrepreneurs she has made a success of herself through hard work and determination. Aged 19yrs Deborah was enthusiastic about business and wanted to make something of herself, she did this by creating her own company selling ceramic and glass goods to stores such as Harvey-Nichols. However when her competitors saw how well she was doing they “upped” their game and tried to push her out of business, selling much of the same products as she was at a slightly lower price. Of course the stores went with the lower price and with Deborah just starting out, she had no legal understanding of what to do, and had no money to pump into a solicitor to fight the battle for her.

After getting out of the ceramics industry she went on to start a franchise with a friend in the retail industry, but it just wasn’t enough for her, she craved something larger, more satisfying. With that in mind she set up a prize concession at a Butlin’s. This taught her a lot about business and she went on to create several highly successful businesses across a couple of different sectors. Deborah has recently sold her shares in the holiday park business after it was sold on to Parkdean Holidays making a cool £83 million on top of the £33 million she previously made by selling 23% of her shares some time earlier.