Leila Wilcox: how I got the itch to get rich

When her baby son developed eczema, Leila Wilcox wasn't happy with the range of skin-care products for children. So she decided to make her own. Within months of starting up, her products were on all the major supermarkets' shelves.

Having a baby is usually the reason most women stop working. Not Leila Wilcox. "I wanted to provide financial security for my son Troy but I also had to stay at home and look after him." Having noticed how popular ponchos were, Wilcox started importing them from America and selling them on via the internet "at a massive mark up". Next, she turned her attention to hunting down car auction bargains. "As a student I had worked part-time in a car showroom." By now Wilcox was "making a comfortable living". But her breakthrough came from the TV programme Make Me A Million. A forerunner of Dragons' Den, the show was looking for contestants who would team up with experienced entrepreneurs to create a business.

Wilcox was one of three people picked from thousands of contestants. Initially it was a mixed blessing: "I had to stake £30,000 in the new venture and I could only see my son on the weekends."

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.