Life

Chanelle McCoy on getting the balance right between business, TV and family

Chanelle McCoy, wife of legendary jockey Tony McCoy, was guest of honour at an event last week in St Benedict's College, a Co Antrim school to which their family has strong links. The Dragons' Den investor told Joanne Sweeney why women ‘can’t have it all’ in terms of career and family

Lady Chanelle McCoy at St Benedict's, Randalstown, Co Antrim, last week Picture: Hugh Russell
Lady Chanelle McCoy at St Benedict's, Randalstown, Co Antrim, last week Picture: Hugh Russell Lady Chanelle McCoy at St Benedict's, Randalstown, Co Antrim, last week Picture: Hugh Russell

LADY Chanelle McCoy is known to many as the glamorous wife of Sir Tony McCoy – better known both to his wife and to punters as 'AP' – the greatest champion jump jockey of all time, from Moneyglass, Co Antrim.

Dressed to kill in high heels, swish dresses and jaunty hats, she’s one of the many Irish women who turn heads at race meetings up and down these islands. But while the 40-year-old mum of two may have an enviable lifestyle with her business career co-heading Ireland's largest pharmaceutical company, Chanelle Medical, she admits that even a woman of her ability "can’t have it all".

The newest investor on RTE One’s Dragons' Den, and the business leader of a company with sales more than €100 million, candidly admits that she felt torn in the past when her business kept her away from her two children, Eve (nine) and Archie (four).

“I definitely struggled for the first six years of my daughter’s life, in getting the right balance and being a good mum,” she reflects. “Our business now is in 93 markets throughout the world so I was travelling constantly every single week abroad, Monday to Friday, because you’re always trying to build up customers and get into new markets.

“It’s not difficult for me to talk about my business and success, but it’s difficult to say that I failed as a mum sometimes over those years. I wasn’t there for the Nativity plays. I wasn’t there for the sports matches and you get to the stage where you think, ‘I don’t have the right balance’ and wonder how do I get it? You think, 'I need to delegate'. When I looked at my business principles, I needed to apply those to my personal life.

“AP can help out now with these things of course. I’m now out of the reeds with my business but I couldn’t say that you could have it all. Something has to give. For me, I had to step back from the day-to-day running of my business. I have an amazing senior management that help run it and my dad is still there as well. You can’t have it all.”

Chanelle McCoy talks to the Irish News Picture by Hugh Russell
Chanelle McCoy talks to the Irish News Picture by Hugh Russell Chanelle McCoy talks to the Irish News Picture by Hugh Russell

A business mentor and supporter of women in business and of young entrepreneurs, Lady McCoy was speaking ahead of her attendance as guest of honour at the annual prize-giving event of St Benedict's College in Randalstown last Thursday.

Sir Tony McCoy had been guest of honour at the event two years previously because there is a strong family connection with the school. Not only is acting principal Diarmuid Shivers married to AP's sister Roisin, but the jockey’s father Peader also helped install the school's staircase, while AP himself attended the former St Olcan’s High School in Randalstown before it amalgamated with St Malachy’s, Antrim, into St Benedict’s.

Lady McCoy’s over-riding message was a call for understanding of 'millennials' – young people born from 1994 onwards – who have been raised with different parenting strategies and a different social environment than today’s employers.

“When you look back at how parents were then, there are differences from today. For example, 40 years ago, did AP’s dad gave him excessive kisses and cuddles? No, not 40 years ago – but now AP is incredibly affectionate to our son Archie and this is how parenting has changed. As parents, we tell our children all the time that they are special, that they are amazing. We were told this 40 years ago? Not really.

“We say to our kids, you can achieve whatever you want in life, so are we making them less resilient and open to criticism? When they go out into the workplace, they realise that they are not special and can’t get everything they want. They don’t get the instant promotion, or the instant gratification that they get from social media.”

Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 30th June 2014 - Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye..Press Release image..Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, hosts a reception at Parliament Buildings to recognise the outstanding achievements of jump jockey Anthony McCoy
Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 30th June 2014 - Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye..Press Release image..Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, hosts a reception at Parliament Buildings to recognise the outstanding achievements Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 30th June 2014 - Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye..Press Release image..Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, hosts a reception at Parliament Buildings to recognise the outstanding achievements of jump jockey Anthony McCoy

The native of Loughrea, Co Galway, herself proved formidable and shrewd when it came to prospective business pitches and proved a hit with her fellow dragons and the viewing public in the TV show, set to be broadcast next spring.

“I really enjoyed the experience and I’ve learnt a lot from being on the show, from the people coming in to pitch and from the other dragons,” she says. “It’s so inspiring listening to people on how they have come up with their business idea and brought the business to where it is now,”

“I had one rule, though, when I went into the Den – and that was I was never going to invest in any business that I knew nothing about as you can’t add value, you can’t relate to or associate with it.

“I wanted to stick to my criteria. Then you get people coming in and they really pull your heart strings emotionally, and I think that I really want to invest in them because they have such a hard road and deserve a leg up as they want to keep their dream alive.

“But you have to strip the emotion away from decisions like that.”

Lady McCoy is honest about her own earlier failures in business but believes the experience was ultimately a positive one.

“What I tell students and young entrepreneurs is that after I set up the pharma business which I co-founded with my father Michael Burke 17 years ago, I then set up a clothes boutique,” she says.

“I did everything wrong and it went bust after two years. I hadn’t got a business plan, I wasn’t watching my overheads and overspent on my cash but it always bugged me that I failed in that business, although I learnt so much.

AP McCoy is kissed by his wife Chanelle after his 2010 victory at the Aintree Grand National
AP McCoy is kissed by his wife Chanelle after his 2010 victory at the Aintree Grand National AP McCoy is kissed by his wife Chanelle after his 2010 victory at the Aintree Grand National

“Then I set up another clothing boutique, Mojo & McCoy, three years ago with five friends but as I learnt so much from the failed business, I took all my learning [into the new business] and now we have a good, financially strong business.

“Sometimes it’s good to fail in life because you can learn a lot from it. But you need the courage to go again.”