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Curse of Harry Potter sinks entrepreneur just awarded MBE
An entrepreneur who has just been honoured by the Queen has put her business into administration.
Rachel Lowe became well-known after launching the board game Destination despite being told by judges on TV's Dragon's Den that it would not be a success.
The mum-of-two, 31, made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours on Saturday, went on to create a string of variations on the theme through her company RTL games.
And she announced she had hit the big time when film giants Warner Brothers asked her to make an official Harry Potter board game, Destination Hogwarts, in October – a month before the new movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was due out.
But after the release was delayed until next month, orders were cancelled and downsized, leaving Ms Lowe, a former taxi driver, unable to meet creditors' demands for payment.
She told The News that RTL Games Ltd had now gone bust. Her 180,000 house has been repossessed, her Volkswagen Beetle seized by bailiffs and she now lives in rented accommodation and uses a pushbike.
She said: 'We are in a global economic recession and Harry Potter was the big break for me, but when the film release got moved orders were cancelled and that had a massive impact on our cashflow.
'We couldn't pay our creditors. The Harry Potter deal should have been the best thing that ever happened but it turned out to be one of the worst.
'It was awful and I couldn't pay my bills and couldn't pay myself a wage.'
But despite her business crumbling around her, Ms Lowe hopes that her career will rise from the ashes: 'I've lost everything and all I've got now is my health,' she said.
'But I'm hoping that the administration process will do its job and I think we will either be able to trade out of administration or a buyer will be found.
'We are in talks with people who want to take it forward and I'm going to keep fighting.
'I'll go back to cab driving if I have to, but I'm sure I can get through this and something good will come of it.'
DRAGONS' JIBE
Rachel Lowe was branded a 'crackpot' by the panel of investors on Dragons' Den, who refused to invest in her board game idea.
She set up RTL Games in 2003, and created the board game Destination, which has since been customised into versions based on locations as diverse as Portsmouth, Cardiff, New York, Brighton and Hove and South Africa.
Each version of the fame featured local landmarks, and the gameplay, which sees the player drive a taxi round the city, was based on Rachel's own experiences as a cab driver.
Rachel Lowe was also an adept publicist, which helped raise the profile of the brand, which went on to sell thousands of games.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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