The girl with the Dragon debut
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Despite her Dragons’ Den status propelling her into the limelight, Hilary Devey vows she will remain loyal to her logistics industry roots
Words: Laura Hailstone
“THEY’D BEEN AFTER me for a couple of years,” says Hilary Devey, referring to the BBC TV Show Dragons’ Den that has seen her become a wellknown name over the last few months.
So well known that she has even made it onto the hit-list of celebrities that Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson impersonate in the new series of The Impressions Show (BBC1, Saturday nights).
“I was a bit reticent at irst, but then thought, ‘yes, I can do this’ , ” she tells CM.
Across the 10 episodes, Devey backed four different business ideas. Two of the four have undergone due diligence, while the other two have failed to proceed for various reasons.
The logistics dragon
Devey says her favourite of the four, and one of the two that is proceeding, is ‘The Duvalay’ – a kind of camping mattress and duvet in one, designed by husband and wife Alan and Liz Colleran. With applications from caravans to boats to trucks, it was the latter use that particularly struck a chord with Devey and resulted in her offering the couple the full £80,000 for a 26% stake of their business. This was her irst investment of the series.
“I want to bring the Duvalay to the European logistics market,” she says.
The other investment by Devey that is already progressing is a wedding video business called Shoot It Yourself, which gives out video cameras to wedding guests and guidance on how to ilm the big day and then edits the footage into a wedding DVD. Devey stumped up £60,000 for a 26% share of the business.
Asked what she brought to the show that the other Dragons didn’t, Devey replies: “Logistics means ‘right time, right place, right resources’ , and you can run any business with that ethos. I’m a marketeer by nature; I set up and have run Pall-Ex for 15 years. A lot of these people are very good at manufacturing or coming up with an invention, but then they need help marketing it – which was where I was well-placed to help.
A useful background
“There was one episode where the other Dragons were interrogating a wouldbe entrepreneur to ind out how he’d lost £40,000 and I said ‘well I know where your £40,000 has gone, it’s gone on shipping hasn’t it?’ The other Dragons wouldn’t have thought of that.” With three TV shows now under her belt (Secret Millionaire in 2008, The Business Inspector in 2010 and Dragons’ Den in 2011), is that it for now?
“There’s loads of TV stuff in the pipeline,” says Devey, “but what I want to do is show the government how vital our industry is to the economy.” She stresses that she wants to use her new-found fame to become a champion for the industry.
“I’m only too aware of the margins our hauliers work on and the amount of legislation they have to comply with. The O-licence legislation is probably around four times more stringent than the rest of Europe. I want the industry to start waking up and standing up for itself,” she enthuses.
Lobbying for the industry
There is one particular hot topic that Devey is passionate about lobbying the government on and that is the European Commission’s (EC) proposal to reduce the height of new-build, singledeck trailers to 4m from 2014.
Although a new discussion document presented at a meeting of the EC’s Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles last month proposes that double decks can remain running at 4.95m high, Devey says it is a long way from being a done deal. “Until this is signed off, there is every need to carry on voicing our concerns,” says Devey.
“I will obviously welcome any move that spares double-deck trailers from this ill-conceived standard height proposal, but it will still have a massive impact if introduced for single-deck trailers. Although this will not have a direct impact on our operations at Pall-Ex, the industry as a whole will still suffer.
“Around 80% of the UK semi-trailer leet has a height of 4.25m or greater, and the majority are single-deck trail ers,” she says. “Looking at these stats, you do not have to be a mathematician to realise that this will have massive cost implications for a huge proportion of an industry that is already suffering.
Inevitably, jobs will be lost and some irms are still likely to go under.
“As far as I’m concerned, the ight continues until the EC realises what its proposals are likely to do to the UK haulage industry,” she says. As Pall-Ex enters its 15th year, Devey describes the network affectionately as a “very dificult teenager”.
She stresses that the network has always been her passion “and always will be” . “It’s my baby and I’m still very much involved in it – even though I have a great board and a strong manage
ment team.” n l For more on Pall-Ex,
turn to p18.