10 January 2005
Enterprise

What makes a person a successful entrepreneur? One element may be luck; it could be hard work, determination and a drive to succeed, a belief in the idea - any or all of these things and more. Rachel Lowe seems to have all of these in abundance - but she does not have any A' levels. That has not stopped the mother of two from pursuing a higher education course in business and law at Portsmouth University, however, and it was here that she gained a break after entering the Enterprise Challenge competition at the University. Her idea was based on her experience as a part time cab driver at weekends in Portsmouth.


The resulting idea won that competition and Ms Lowe has since been working on developing the idea.


The result of the entry to the competition was a game called 'Destination'; the first series of the game is based in London and involves players acting as taxi drivers seeking to maximise their earnings as they pick up fares and take passengers around the landmarks of London. Players have to avoid hazards like traffic lights, running out of petrol and keeping their licence! The nature of the game lends itself well to being marketed based on other countries and Ms Lowe is hoping to be able to produce a New York, San Francisco, Paris and Portsmouth edition.


The game was launched in Portsmouth in October and has become a top seller. Top London toy store Hamleys sold out of the game and is still (at the time of writing) awaiting backorders. The game is made in India and retails at £19.99.


Combining the development of the game along with managing her family and her studies has been a time consuming and challenging experience but Ms Lowe is determined to succeed. There have been press reports that Ms Lowe aims to make a million by the time she is 30! Whilst the dream of every entrepreneur is to make big money, it seems that Ms Lowe gets as much pleasure out of walking into a shop and seeing her idea stacked on the shelves, although by the way it has been selling - those stacks will not remain for very long.