Rachel Elnaugh (born 12 December 1964) is a British entrepreneur who founded the UK gift company
Red Letter Days
Red Letter Days is a UK company which was an early adopter of the concept of giving experience day vouchers as gifts and corporate rewards, based in Borehamwood in the offices of its parent company, Buyagift.
The company is now owned by French ...
. She was one of the investors participating in the first two series of
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
's TV show ''
Dragons' Den
''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...
''.
Early life
When she was younger she lived above her father's electrical shop, 'Elnaugh and Son' in Chelmsford. Rachel attended
Chelmsford County High School for Girls
Chelmsford County High School for Girls or "CCHS", is a selective grammar school for girls aged 11–18 located in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Entrance to the school is by an academic selection test. CCHS is traditionally rated among the most co ...
, a Grammar School in Essex. She originally wanted to take
art history
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
, but she was rejected by five universities, and she climbed the corporate ladder from being an office junior in a local firm of accountants to become a qualified tax consultant with
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...
.
Career
Red Letter Days
In 1989, Elnaugh founded
Red Letter Days
Red Letter Days is a UK company which was an early adopter of the concept of giving experience day vouchers as gifts and corporate rewards, based in Borehamwood in the offices of its parent company, Buyagift.
The company is now owned by French ...
, one of the first UK companies to sell
experiential gifts
Experiential gifts also known as gift experiences and experience gifts, as opposed to material gifts or simply “stuff”, allow the recipient to have an experience, such as skydiving, kayaking, race car driving or touring a vineyard. Purchases ...
, such as motor racing days, hot air ballooning and health spa days.
[ (link via ]Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
) The idea to set up Red Letter Days came from purchasing tickets to a cricket match for her father as a gift.
The company grew to an £18 million annual turnover and led to Elnaugh being a 2001/2 finalist in the
Veuve Clicquot
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and ...
Businesswoman of the Year and
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...
Entrepreneur of the Year.
After an attempt to expand the business into the retail sector, Red Letter Days
went into administration
As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on ...
on 1 August 2005. Elnaugh, who had become a dragon on the TV series ''
Dragons' Den
''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...
'', sold the remaining assets and goods of Red Letter Days to fellow dragons
Peter Jones and
Theo Paphitis
Theodoros "Theo" Paphitis ( el, Θεόδωρος Παφίτης; born 24 September 1959) is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur. He is best known for his appearances on the BBC business programme ''Dragons' Den'' and as former ...
.
ITV1
ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
's ''
Tonight
Tonight may refer to:
Television
* ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC
* ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'' programme criticized the business model of Red Letter Days, which included unpaid suppliers and disappointed purchasers. The programme suggested that the company failed to
escrow
An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party (the stakeholder or escrow agent) receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacti ...
or earmark supplier payment equity, instead of using it for working capital. However, Elnaugh blamed Red Letter Days' bankers.
[Rachel Elnaugh, ''Business Nightmares'', p. 169]
''Dragons' Den''
In the mid 2000s, Elnaugh joined the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''.
She was one of the five investors ("Dragons") in the first two series of the show, making five agreed investment offers – in Grails, Le Beanock, Snowbone, Elizabeth Galton and
Her book ''Business Nightmares'' about the fine line between business success and failure was published by Crimson in May 2008. After this, Elnaugh was a business mentor for other entrepreneurs and founded the digital publishing and marketing platform Source TV in 2013. Her book ''PROSPERITY'' was published on 23 April 2016.
* ''Business Nightmares: When Entrepreneurs Hit Crisis Point...'' 8 May 2008, Crimson,
* "PROSPERITY" 23 April 2016, Source Publishing