Hilary Devey, Pallex boss, guest speaker at Mount Murray Hotel.
31st January, 2012
Award-winning entrepreneur and star of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den Hilary Devey was the guest speaker at the Isle of Man Sporting and Dining Club event on Thursday 26th January.
Ms Devey is the founder of pallet distribution business The Pall-Ex Group, and is one of the UK’s most successful ‘rags to riches’ entrepreneurs. She had initially been unable to secure backing for Pall-Ex and had to sell her house and car to find the funds she needed.
Hilary Devey gained her experience in the distribution sector, having worked at Littlewood’s, followed by Tibbett and Britten, and Scorpio which was part of the United Carriers network. She then spent a further seven years in the retail distribution sector at TNT before leaving to set up her own business.
Prior to the formation of Pall-Ex it was difficult to transport small consignments of palletised freight quickly and cost-effectively across the country. Hilary saw that this situation needed a solution and she is responsible for revolutionising distribution in the UK by developing a business model that would overcome this.
Following her after dinner talk at the Mount Murray Hotel she left the Island in spectacular style on Friday morning, on board a bright red helicopter. After travel difficulties getting to the Island, the helicopter was summoned to whisk her away from the hotel tennis courts.
Manx Independent Carriers UK subsidiary is the Pallex franchisee for the Liverpool area and make collections and deliveries on a daily basis in the area and run two 56 pallet trailers each night to the pallex hub in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.