FROM VALLEYS TO MOUNTAIN OF SUCCESS
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ORN in the small Valleys town of Ebbw Vale, and raised in Abergavenny, 52-year-old Mark Neale was not too different from any of his friends growing up.
However, that would soon change for the Welsh entrepreneur after leaving home for university in the ’80s, and starting a global business that would later earn him millions of pounds.
He now travels the world managing his popular chain of Mountain Warehouse stores, a company with shops all over the world, including locations in Canada, America, New Zealand, and the UK.
Though things could have been very different for the Oxford University graduate, who is now worth an estimated £220m, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, as he originally started out with a degree in physics. He said: “I studied for a degree in physics, so yes this is very different to what I do now, but that’s just how it goes.
“After I graduated I got a job as a strategy consultant in the City for about four years, where I decided I wanted to set up my own business.
“Some of the clients we had were in retail so I had a bit of knowledge on that, and soon after I chucked in my job and set up a shop.
“That’s how it all started for me, though Mountain Warehouse was actually my fourth attempt at setting up a business.
“Initially I had a shop selling Rollerblades which opened in 1994. They were quite big back then and I ended up with five shops selling the things. I also had a toy shop and a place selling greeting cards which were a total disaster.
“Then we came up with Mountain Warehouse which seemed to stick. It has really grown over the past 22 years to the point where we have over 400 shops worldwide now.
“You never really know how it’s going to go when you first start, but if I went back 20 years and saw where I am now then I think I’d be happy with what I’ve achieved. There’s still a lot more I want to do though.”
The first Mountain Warehouse store opened in Swindon in 1997 selling largely stock clearance items, but gradually built themselves throughout the 2000s to stock their own branded items.
Sales soared in 2016 when Prince George was photographed in a Mountain Warehouse ski suit in the French Alps, making them one of the largest outdoor clothing retailers in the UK.
They now have more than 400 stores worldwide and offer customers quality outdoor clothing and camping equipment for competitive prices.
Working alongside brother Simon, Mark owns 85% of the business, though says no matter how much success he has, he will never forget his roots in South Wales.
He said: “I have a lot of good memories growing up in Wales and I’m very proud of my heritage. My parents and most of my family are all still living down in Abergavenny as well which is nice.
“One thing I remember growing up was being jealous of my grandparents, as they always got lots of snow in Ebbw Vale but we didn’t really get too much of it in Abergavenny. I had a nice childhood, though you don’t realise it when you’re younger as that’s all you’ve ever known.”
Mark, who lives at home in London with his wife Michelle and daughter Emma, lives a busy lifestyle, with nineto-five business meetings and a lot of travel across Europe and North America. Though in his spare time he enjoys nothing more than spending time with family, or being on walks with his dog, Jackson.
“I’m Welsh so of course I enjoy the rugby and always love to watch the national team. I keep up with the results for Ebbw Vale as well where I can, but don’t really get a chance to watch the regions play.”
Mark had some good advice for budding entrepreneurs across Wales who may also be thinking of starting their own business as well.
He said: “It doesn’t happen overnight but that’s OK. People often ask me what it’s like being at the head of such a big company but its hard for me to see it that way as it’s grown gradually from nothing.
“It’s been a slow and gradual growth over a long period of time for us, shop by shop and product by product. The important thing for people to understand is that we didn’t just go from zero to four hundred shops overnight.”