Rachel Lowe MBE

Rachel Lowe is the creator of the Destination brand and has won many awards for enterprise and business including the prestigious NatWest Everywoman Award and has also received recognition from Buckingham Palace.

Her story starts as a cab driver in Portsmouth paying her way through university as a mature student with two children. Whilst out on a shift she had the idea for a taxi board game called Destination.

Rachel took her Destination London board game to the investors on BBC 2’s Dragon’s Den, but went home empty handed after one of the harshest roastings the show has seen.

Undeterred, Rachel launched Destination London in Hamley’s Toy Store and the game became the top selling item both in-store and online.

The Destination brand now comprises 21 editions including a Harry Potter version; Destination Hogwarts and a Disney Pixar edition; Destination Animation.

Rachel has been passionate about business amongst young people after starting her business as a student. She is determined and focused and never loses sight of the fact that she started out in life as a taxi driver – she is now committed to promoting enterprise and inspiring people to follow their dreams.

“It has been an unbelievable journey with incredible highs and unthinkable lows. My take on business is that it IS personal. Business is personal to those who sacrifice everything and take the risk. Things don’t always work out as you expect them to and dealing with the set backs is something you can never fully prepare for unless you have been through it. Business is very much like life itself – unpredictable. 

Success is achieved in stages. No one can ever take away the successes you achieve on your journey. Just getting a product to market is an achievement, even if break even is a couple of years away. The realization that nothing is impossible is surreal. Once you open your mind to the possibilities, life will never be the same.”

Rachel has taken the theme ‘nothing is impossible,’ into her new venture with business partner Simon Dolan, using the phrase as the tagline for her fragrance and accessories brand ‘SHE WHO DARES’.

SHE WHO DARES gifts create an opportunity to acknowledge the women in your life who inspire you and who you are proud of. A SHE WHO DARES gift says “I believe in you”.

The amount of people I have seen saying how great your presentation was yesterday must tell you something! Well done again Rachel – you truly are a star.  Coffin Mew LLP 

Just a quick note to thank you for sharing your journey with us at yesterday’s Shaping Portsmouth event.  What a fantastic story of entrepreneurship, opportunism, hard work, self motivation and resilience. Well done! Blake Lapthorn

Thank you so much for your presentation last week. You had the audience in the palm of your hand!  Express FM