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Rachel Elnaugh — entrepreneur, author and former TV ‘Dragon’ — will visit Nottingham University Business School on October 16 to talk to 800 first-year students on the Entrepreneurship and Business programme.
The first of two talks begins at 4pm, when she will describe her experience of launching the multi-million pound gift experiences company Red Letter Days, taking in the dark days when the business collapsed in 2005.
Her subsequent move into business consultancy and the publication of her first book ‘Business Nightmares’ allows her to share her advice with many different audiences.
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Rachel, one of Britain’s highest-profile female entrepreneurs, is keen to give the first year students a real insight into life at the sharp-end of business. She said: “I started Red Letter Days when I was just 24. It was enormous fun seeing the business grow, and although we did make early mistakes we learned from them and enjoyed success.
“It was 16 years later, and during the period I was best-known for my TV appearances, that things started to go horribly wrong. So many lessons learned in such a short space of time — I feel it a real privilege to be able to share them quite candidly with the next business generation.”
Rachel Elnaugh is Entrepreneur in Residence at the British Library Business & IP Centre, and winner of the IAB 2008 UK Champion for Entrepreneurship Award.
Professor Martin Binks, Course Director on the Entrepreneurship and Business Programme at Nottingham University Business School, said: “Having Rachel to talk to the first years in their very first semester at University is a great start to the programme, and one I’m sure they won’t forget. There’s nothing quite like a bit of business reality to put academic theory to the test!”
The University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation (UNIEI), based in the prestigious Nottingham University Business School, is one of the leading centres of excellence in enterprise education in Europe and a founder member of the UK Science Enterprise Centre Network.
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Notes to editors:
Rachel Elnaugh is available for pre-record phone interviews from Tuesday 14th October and for short interviews between 3.20pm – 3.45pm on 16th October, in the Business School South building, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham. Prior arrangements to be made with Louise Third on 0115 906 1377 or Tim Utton, Deputy Director of Communications, University of Nottingham, on 0115 951 5765.
The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 100 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THE) World University Rankings.
It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation — School of Pharmacy).
Its students are much in demand from 'blue-chip' employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for four years in succession, and current holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree completion rates are amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.