Avril Drake was born in Zimbabwe, Africa. She grew up in Zambia and attended the Dominican Convent in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, subsequently, she got married and moved to South Africa, where she attended Cape Town University majoring in Business Management and Industrial Psychology Her career was diversified. First, she started in Hire Purchasing and Leasing with Western Bank, in charge of the New Business Department. She then moved with her boss, who was a brilliant mathematician, to start up a Finance Company for Datsun Motor manufacturing. She flew all over the central and northern part of South Africa, calling on Datsun Motor Dealers, checking their Financial Agreements, with their customers and then deciding which agreements, should be purchased, by Datsun Finance.

After a couple of years, she was approached by an International Safe Company, called Chubb Lock and Safe, to head up their Lock Division in Southern Africa. The U. K. Head Office wanted the sales in SA to be increased by 50 percent in 2 years. Avril set about learning how the locks worked etc. and building up a hungry Sales Team, around the country, at all the branches. She was the first female Sales Manager in the company worldwide. Overseas trip incentives, insured the success of the Team achieving the high sales goals she set. Everyone went on these trips for the next three years.!

News of her success in Sales got around and she was approached by another company, to join them and build up their turnover. Within 2 years and a lot of time spent in the factory on ‘time and motion study’, sales grew quite a few million Rands (the exchange rate was the same as the value of the US Dollar). She was again approached, to build up sales, in a Bullet Resisting Glass Cubicle company. When she joined them, they had three quarters of a million Rand annual turnover. After 3 years, it was up to 11 million. Avril then married an American and moved to Springfield Missouri, USA.

Alas, in Springfield she could not get a job. She tried everywhere but repeatedly was told she was overqualified. No one would give her a job, because she had earned too much money in SA, more than a lot of the local CEO’s earned. She wanted to work, so she washed cars at 4 in the morning, in the dead of winter, at the Auto Auction, she stuffed envelopes for Express Personnel clients for $6.00 an hour. She did reception work through a temp agency at 3M. Eventually she was offered a job by a Tennessee company, Check into Cash. After a telephone interview, a man flew to Springfield to meet and interview her in person, he then took her to the premises where the business was to be started. The front section was already set up with a counter, furniture and the relevant computer equipment and hardware. There was a bank, a short distance away and he took her there, to introduce her to the manager. On return to the shop, he gave her, a manual of Operations and the front door key. He then wished her luck and drove off, to fly home. She built the business, single handed, to 1600 current customers, then she got an assistant. Subsequently she opened another branch for them. However, when her husband got cancer and had to have treatments, there was no one to look after the branch, so she resigned and retired she was 62.

In 2021 Erik approached her to rent one of her houses in Watersedge, Port Orange. They got on well and she chatted to him about his life and background and dreams. Avril really felt that Erik needed a break and a chance to work towards achieving his dream, so she said she would put up money, to start the business and would work with him to get it established. Honesty, keeping ones word and never cheating others or letting them down is her Mantra. A rather good one to live by and to adapt to business.