Gavin Wheeldon

Gavin Wheeldon
Born (1976-05-12) 12 May 1976
Leicester
Nationality British
Known for Entrepreneur

Gavin Wheeldon (born 12 May 1976) is a British businessman and entrepreneur from the Manchester area who is best known for his appearances on the reality television shows Dragon's Den and Secret Millionaire; and a controversial contract his former company, Applied Language Solutions (ALS), signed with the United Kingdom's Ministry of Justice.[1] After selling it to Capita, he founded Purple WiFi, a company to provide free WiFi platform to the businesses for customer relationship management.[2]

Applied Language Solutions

Wheeldon founded ALS in 2003.[3] In 2007, Wheeldon appeared on the British version of Dragons' Den offering 4% of the company in return for £250,000 investment. None of the Dragons backed him.[4]

Ministry of Justice Controversy

In 2011, the company signed a lucrative contract with the UK's Ministry of Justice to provide court interpreters across England and Wales. Wheeldon later admitted that ALS was ill-prepared to meet the obligations of the agreement. Registered police and court interpreters were unhappy about the ministry's decision to use ALS, in addition to the much lower pay offered by the company, and over 1,000 of them protested the decision.[1] The majority of them refused to work for ALS, leading to questions in Parliament as to whether the contract was viable.[5] During the first quarter of the contract, ALS faced 2,232 complaints.[6] Some poorly-prepared interpreters were accused of creating "courtroom chaos" that led to cases and proceedings being delayed or collapsing entirely because they failed to show up on time or were deemed incompetent.[7]

Sale to Capita

Wheeldon sold his company, Applied Language Solutions, to Capita plc in December 2011 for £7.5 - £67.5 million dependant on target.[8] He remained the CEO of the business for six months. The company was rebranded Capita Translation and Interpreting.

Other Work

In 2009, Wheeldon appeared in an episode of The Secret Millionaire on Channel 4,[9] where he visited North Wales and observed and subsequently invested in a number of community projects.

In January 2010, the Oldham Council set up the Business Leadership Group, of which Wheeldon is a member. The group is composed of 14 local business owners who advise the Oldham Council and local regeneration body Oldham Partnership on economic and other policy matters.[10]

Purple WiFi

In May 2012, after leaving ALS, Wheeldon set up an internet business named So Purple Group Limited.[11] So Purple was established through the acquisition and merger of five established companies and provides a number of services for the retail and leisure industry.[12] The company offers a free WiFi platform for businesses to surveil their customer's shopping patterns and habits, and communicate through their social IDs with these clients through targeted messaging.[13] In May 2013, So Purple sold its Broadband division for £800,000 to Coms to focus on Wifi.[14] Until 2015, Purple was funded by Wheeldon, before receiving its first outside funding of $5 million from Terry Leahy, Bill Currie, Iain MacDonald, Bob Willett and Juno Capital.[2]

Awards

Personal life

Wheeldon currently lives in Uppermill, Oldham with his wife and two daughters.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 Owen Bowcott; Tom Midlane (2012-03-02). "Interpreters stay away from courts in protest at privatised contract". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
  2. 1 2 Ingrid Lunden. "UK's Purple WiFi Raises $5M To Push Its Free Social WiFi Service Abroad". TechCrunch.
  3. ↑ Applied Language Solutions
  4. ↑ Dragon's Den UK Season 4 Episode 4
  5. ↑ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 10 Oct 2011 (pt 0004)". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  6. ↑ "MPs to investigate underperforming firm awarded £300m court monopoly". The Guardian. 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
  7. ↑ "Applied Language Solutions boss Gavin Wheeldon blames interpreters for company's failures". The Independent. 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
  8. ↑ http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/capita-group-acquires-applied-language-879075
  9. ↑ "The Secret Millionaire". Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  10. ↑ Oldham Chronicle: Look overseas to boost growth
  11. ↑ http://purple.so
  12. ↑ "Purple Wifi allows companies to grow". 7 November 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  13. ↑ Gillian West (13 February 2014). "Purple Wi-Fi introduces Presence Analytics and location-based services for consumer insights and targeted marketing opportunities". The Drum.
  14. ↑ http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/deals/so-purple-sells-broadband-division-3318906
  15. ↑ "Region's best business leaders shortlisted".
  16. ↑ "Entrepreneur of the Year". Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  17. ↑ "The One Oldham Business Awards 2012".
  18. ↑ "Runaway train keeps on rolling".
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