Adaptability the key to entrepreneurship, says Eveden boss

ADAPTING to change and exploiting any new opportunities that present themselves are the key traits of any successful entrepreneur, a leading Midlands businesswoman has said.

Tracy Lewis, chief executive of lingerie and swimwear business Eveden, can speak with some authority on the matter.

Ms Lewis is the current holder of the UK Private Equity Backed Entrepreneur Of The Year title, an honour bestowed on her at the 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.

Judges praised her for turning the company, which specialises in lingerie and swimwear for the fuller bust and figure, into a global business serving over 50 countries.

Founded in 1920, Eveden, headquartered in Northamptonshire, has an international presence that includes sales offices in the US, Asia and Europe and a customer base of more than 5,000 retailers. Eveden’s portfolio of designer brands includes Freya, Fantasie, Fauve, Elomi, Goddess and Huit.

Mid-market private equity firm LDC sold its stake in the business last April in a deal worth £148m. The deal, lead out of LDC’s operation in Birmingham, saw the stake sold to Tokyo Stock Exchange listed Wacoal Holdings Corporation.

With any change in ownership has come a period of transition and so it has proved at Eveden but Ms Lewis said the key to be successful was to adapt as quickly as possible.

“The first year has been very interesting and I can’t believe how much we have done. We have seen a lot of change and while I’m still getting used to the transition from a private company to being part of a corporate entity, there have been many exciting developments,” she said.

“Wacoal is looking to leverage our success on the rest of the business. They have successful businesses in the US and Europe and they recognised there would be opportunities to exploit those synergies.

“This has involved me taking on a wider role and from April 1 I have taken over responsibility for the European wing of the business.”

One of the immediate decisions has been to launch the French brand Huit into the Asian markets because consumers there place such a high premium on French lingerie.

“This is one of the opportunities we will be looking to develop, along with many more,” she added.

Ms Lewis, who joined the group in 2003, said she had learned several lessons during her time with the company that had made her re-examine her entrepreneurial flair.

“I don’t think I’d thought of myself as an entrepreneur before. But after I had taken the business from B to C I took stock and thought we had done very well. We have a good team and the satisfying thing is that I have brought many of them on myself,” she said.

So what did she do to engineer that success?

“It is important to have a strong team and so we try and reward and incentivise staff by getting them to have a greater stake in the success of the business,” she said.

And on a personal level?

“I think an entrepreneur is probably someone who is self-motivated; someone who looks at things and says ‘Where can we go next and what can we do’.

“This was tested in 2008 and beyond when the markets became very challenging. We looked at things and said while there were challenges, there were also opportunities. So we looked at opportunities elsewhere, what new markets were opening up and what products we could supply. Through innovation and a targeted investment strategy we were able to identify what we wanted to do and it has paid off.

“I think my piece of advice for any budding entrepreneur would be to enjoy what you do. It’s this that helps you get up at 5 o’clock each morning ready for the day ahead.”

The Midlands final of this year’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards takes place on Tuesday June 18.