Although she is just 40, McEvoy has nurtured two businesses from start-up to success. She built Pembroke Distributors into a leading vending company before selling it in 2001 and Phonecard Warehouse has gone from inception to a €50m turnover in five years.
Originally from Limerick, McEvoy did a Fas course in telephone sales after leaving school and then worked in a succession of jobs. She also set up the Miss Limerick competition, before getting involved with an initiative to sell microwaveable Heinz meals in garage forecourts. That led to developing Cadbury Ireland’s vending programme before setting up Pembroke Distributors, her own vending company, in 1991.
In 1999, she set up Phonecard Warehouse to work with Pembroke Distributors marketing and selling smart cards for public telephones. Within two years, Phonecard Warehouse machines were vending top-up cards for all of the Irish telecommunications companies.
“When we first recognised the potential of mobile pre-paid phones, we recognised that top-ups could be sold using the vending concept. After only a year, we had purchased more than 50 card-vending machines and employed four people,” said McEvoy.
When the mobile-phone companies decided to move from paper-based to electronic top-ups, Phonecard Warehouse had to adapt to survive.
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“After months of travelling to the US, Canada and finally Germany, we identified two companies to work with and over the following months designed our machine with a German manufacturer that co-ordinated with our software company,” she said.
It was six months before McEvoy got the first electronic top-up vending machine into the marketplace but the firm now has hundreds of machines around Ireland with customers such as the main supermarket chains, garages, newsagents and convenience stores.
The company also has units in Greece through a deal with a local distributor and is negotiating with other European network providers.
The vending machines can also be configured to sell international calling cards, ringtones, games and other pre-paid products.
McEvoy believes this rapid growth is largely due to the product being a good fit with the customer base. “Our customers are primarily retailers or multiples who are also working on low margins,” she said.
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“Our product eliminates the risk of mistakes and guarantees supply to the retailer’s customer and income to the retailer. Our system also means the retailer does not need a fixed telephone line.”
Phonecard Warehouse employs 12 people and McEvoy is a finalist for this year’s Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year award. She also chairs the Northern Area Regional Drugs Task Force.
She admits that building a company from scratch is not the easiest or, in the early years, the most profitable of tasks. “You have to operate on a small income until such time as the company can afford to pay more. In my case, this took about four years.
“You also have to find the seed capital and working for yourself is almost a 24-hour operation. Furthermore, until such time as your company has existed for at least three years, your investment is at risk.”
McEvoy’s initial funding consisted of a small bank loan. “I started off gently with the bankers. If you are open with them and achieve what you say you are going to, they give you more and you can build your business,” she said.
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Not only is entrepreneurship a risky and financially rocky road, it also confers onerous responsibility. “The first lesson is that you are responsible for everything that goes wrong and your customer is always right,” said McEvoy.
Novice entrepreneurs should remember to remain as accessible as they were when they started out, once their business begins to grow, she says. Self-belief is also critical throughout the business start-up process. “When you are starting up, you must believe in yourself. There will always be plenty of people to tell you why it won’t work. Plan your work and work your plan.”
Her final nugget of advice for other start-up owners? “Money isn’t everything . . . but it is in business.”