A Channel 4 Secret Millionaire, Hilary Devey is Chief Executive of Pall-Ex, the UK's number one palletised freight distribution network. Having started from nothing, she now leads a group of companies which boasts a combined turnover approaching £100million and serves numerous blue chip customers.
During the set up of her business, Hilary had to tackle incredible odds and face untold hardships in order to succeed. Her concept was completely new - untried and untested. Bankers refused to back her proposed venture and she was forced to sell her house to fund its start up.
Difficult times for anyone let alone a single mother who is solely responsible for providing a home and a specialist education for her dyslexic son.
Massive obstacles lay ahead but Hilary managed to overcome every one of them. After months of abortive attempts, Hilary managed to source her first premises and eventually, on 29 November 1996, Pall-Ex was born. On the first night of operation just 117 pallets were distributed through the fledgling network - a stark contrast to the 10,000 pallets that are now regularly distributed by Pall-Ex nightly.
Hilary is hugely inspiring and believes the skills learned as daughter, wife and mother can indeed be seamlessly transferred to the Boardroom.
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