Friendly fire

There is more to Dragon Den’s long term investor and inquisitor than stern business analysis. Essex-based

Deborah Meaden tells Richard Aldhous about happy childhood memories, life lessons and her rules for workwear

It says a lot that a businesswoman so entrenched in the fast-paced, unrelenting worlds of retail, leisure, fashion and more, craves nothing other than to slip quietly away from the high-powered negotiations and boardroom battles.

Deborah Meaden, the 64-year-old star of TV’s Dragons’ Den, who has appeared on the show since series three in August 2006, hails from the relative serenity of Brightlingsea. She counts her early days on Essex’s south-facing coast as being pivotal to a business empire that now see her regarded as one of the nation’s best known entrepreneurs.

“I’ve always been able to separate business from pleasure,” begins Meaden. It’s a start that immediately shows our interview will be much less about the cut and thrust or hard work, and more about the rewards it can bring.

That aforementioned separation becomes instantly impressive in its achievement, when you consider the popular businesswoman has agreed to invest in over 70 businesses on the hit BBC1 business reality show.

“It’s been important for me to know when to stop – that’s not to say I’m not a workaholic, but I was always brought up to respect myself, my family, my friends and my loved ones,” she says, offering a nod to husband Paul, her partner of 30 years.

“I know I function best when I ensure I have time outside of work to do the things in life that really count.”

Perhaps that reality has been accentuated by the fact Meaden’s initial fortune came about via a family park industry, through her company Weststar Holidays, which operated in the south-west.

“There’s no happier sight than seeing people enjoy themselves, particularly when you’ve contributed to putting a smile on their faces,” she says, “and I’ve carried that ethos through to almost every business deal I’ve been involved in.

“In recent years I’ve really pushed an environmental or eco edge into my preferred investments too, and I think that again comes from ‘

‘ the same place. If you can make money by doing good, or making people happy, then that really is the ultimate win/win.”

While Meaden’s time in Brightlingsea was perhaps more fleeting that she would have liked –she moved to the Essex town with her mother and sister from her native Taunton, though eventually headed back west when attending school in Salisbury – the entrepreneur has a genuine fondness for the area. “I was very young and my mother was working at Butlins, Clacton. We would stay with a couple in Brightlingsea – me and my sister.

“I remember the beach, the sunshine, and the sparky nature of the people. They were different to the folk I had grown up with in Taunton, but it wasn’t something I could put my finger on.

“Perhaps it was the closer proximity to London that made everyone so much more energetic –whatever it was, I really fed off it. All my commercial spirit emanated from those early days, and by the age of six or seven I knew there was only one thing I wanted to do with my life.”

Wind forward and Meaden’s ability to spot a trend, drive a project, and cut a deal has accumulated her an estimated wealth of over £40million.

She doesn’t suffer fools gladly, in business nor in life, though some have remarked that the formerly brutally tough exterior has chilled somewhat in recent years, certainly when it comes to shutting down the investment dreams of Dragons’ Den hopefuls.

“At the end of the day I am driven, I am direct and I am honest! Being dishonest, or beating about the bush is a waste of time, and actually unfair on everyone!

“Knowingly leaving somebody believing the wrong thing – even if your words weren’t an actual lie – is the same as lying.

“We have to be clear and concise, and at the end of conversations I always double check with people that we both understand what we have agreed. It’s the only way. And none of that means we can’t have fun at the same time, because that’s what business should be, ultimately.”

Meaden says business has given her an education in life that stretches well beyond anything she learned in her schooling. “I think every enterprise you explore will end up building your understanding of what does and what doesn’t work. That’s just life, and how we grow as people.

“Nothing is ever perfect; and certainly I think you learn more from the mistakes than the successes.”

As for the lesson that’s proved to be her most valuable over the years, the entrepreneur is clear. “I see businesses all the time making the same cardinal sin – they forget to listen to their customers.

“It’s essential to find out what your customer wants and even more essential to provide it.”

Meaden has ventured into almost every sector in lining up a business portfolio. The mention of retirement is met with a look of stern disgust. Meanwhile she tempers a tough workload by presenting herself in a way that beams freshness, energy and passion. Her stylist of three decades lives in Shenfield, and while business attire, across the world, has evolved considerably over the past couple of decades, Meaden believes to be taken seriously, you still need to present yourself properly.

“I feel the ‘corporate look’ has become rather more relaxed in recent years,” she says. “Business suits, for women especially, are perhaps more feminine than they once were. The reputation of ladies in business these days stands up for itself, and doesn’t need to be artificially enhanced in the way we look. I think that’s a really important thing and something we can all be proud of.

“For me, I’ll always go for what I term ‘smart casual’. I know it’s a tired phrase, but it suggests to me you’re there to work, yet you’re not going to be constricted by an outfit that is taking your attention, when that attention should be on a business presentation, for instance.

“Feeling good and looking good go hand in hand - and you need to have both in business.”

And yet for all the corporate contentment that has patterned Meaden’s life, surely the lure of winding back the clock to those early family holiday park days always linger around the corner . . . maybe even on the Essex coast that gave her so much impetus as a young girl.

“Any time spent in Essex now is about enjoyment,” she says. “I’ve always been a believer that sometimes you can spoil a memory by going back too many times, or by seeking to evolve it into something new.

“Special experiences should be left in the past, so Brightlingsea will remain as it has always been in my mind,” she laughs . . . “just perfect”.