Nationality British Role Entrepreneur Name Sarah Willingham | Website Official website Children 4 TV shows Dragons' Den | |
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Alma mater Cranfield University, Oxford Brookes University, Ecole superieure de commerce de la rochelle Occupation Business entrepreneur, investor and personal finance expert Television The RestaurantDragons' Den Spouse Michael Willingham-Toxvaerd (m. 2008) Similar People Touker Suleyman, Nick Jenkins, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne Profiles | ||
Sarah willingham cranfield mba 2003 entrepreneur investor star of dragons den
Sarah Louise Willingham (born 21 December 1973) is a British entrepreneur, investor and personal finance expert. She is best known for her management in high street restaurants such as Planet Hollywood and Pizza Express.
Contents
- Sarah willingham cranfield mba 2003 entrepreneur investor star of dragons den
- Sarah willingham wiki videos
- Education
- Businesses
- Television
- Personal life
- References
Willingham bought the Bombay Bicycle Club while in partnership with The Clapham House Group. She was able successfully to expand the Bombay Bicycle Club from a chain of six restaurants to a seventeen chain business.
From 2015 to 2017 she appeared in the BBC Two series Dragons' Den.
Sarah willingham wiki videos
Education
Willingham has two business degrees from Oxford Brookes University and the École supérieure de commerce de La Rochelle business school in France. In 2004 she completed an MBA from the Cranfield University School of Management.
Businesses
Having spent the early years of her career managing some restaurants including Chessageed Delights, Planet Hollywood and Pizza Express, Willingham decided to go it alone. In partnership with The Clapham House Group, she bought The Bombay Bicycle Club in 2004, and turned a loss-making chain of 6 restaurants into a profitable chain of 17 restaurants, making it Britain's largest Indian restaurant chain. Willingham sold her share back to The Clapham House Group in 2007 where she continued as a main board director responsible for three of their four brands (Tootsies, The Real Greek and The Bombay Bicycle Club) with over 50 restaurants and more than 1,500 employees.
In 2004, Willingham co-established an AIM-listed company, Neutrahealth plc, which acquired six businesses in the vitamin and mineral supplements industry and was sold to Indian company Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd in 2011.
In April 2008, she helped co-establish a private equity platform in the UK; .
In 2010, Willingham invested in the London Cocktail Club. The first cocktail bar opened in 2011 on Goodge Street, London. In February 2012 the London Cocktail Club added their second cocktail bar on Shaftesbury Avenue, London and their latest bar opened in Great Portland Street, London in 2013.
In July 2012, Willingham launched a money-saving website called www.letssavemoney.com, which aims to help people take control of their time and be smart with their money, encouraging users to take action through one-minute guides to various aspects of money saving.
Being a former owner of the Bombay Bicycle Club restaurant chain, she is recognised as an entrepreneur specialising in high street restaurants.
Management Today and The Sunday Times acknowledged her as one of the "35 most successful women under 35" in the UK. In 2007 she was voted one of the "Courvoisier Top 500" and American Express "Spokesperson for Small Business Saturday 2013".
In January 2016, Willingham was named one of The Sunday Times' '500 Most Influential people in Britain'.
Television
Willingham was a restaurant inspector and investor on all three series of Raymond Blanc's The Restaurant and as an independent investor on the Sky television series Cooks to Market. She has regularly appeared on various TV programmes, including Daybreak, This Morning, The Wright Stuff and Sky News.
In March 2015, Willingham was named as one of the new "Dragons" on the BBC television programme Dragons' Den from the thirteenth series which began airing in July 2015. She returned to Dragons' Den for the fourteenth series, beginning in July 2016.
Her Dragons' Den investments include:
In September 2016, Willingham took part in a celebrity episode of The Chase.
Personal life
Willingham and her husband Michael live in the countryside outside London with their four children.