Sara Davies has joined Not On The High Street as a non-executive director and taken a stake in the Bristol-based online marketplace, as its new private equity owners attempt to steer the business back to growth.
The appointment comes just over six months after Not On The High Street was bought by Executive Equity Partners (EEP), a German investor based in Munich. EEP styles itself as a specialist in “companies facing transformation and challenges that current shareholders can no longer manage alone”.
Davies, who appeared on the BBC business series Dragons’ Den between 2019 and 2025, will mentor the small business owners who sell their goods on the platform, as well as advising on the company’s strategy more broadly.
“We’ve got to drive this forward,” she said. “There is a real sentiment and movement among consumers at the moment of people wanting to buy local. They want to support small businesses. They want to support cottage industries and they want to buy personalised gifts.”
She said she had made a board seat and an equity stake a condition of getting involved. “I said I would only get involved if I’m sitting on the board; if I’ve got a voice, not only at the top table, but in the firm, and I’m an owner in this business. [Mentoring] absolutely plays into the commercial aspirations of the business, because… if we make these people more successful, the whole company grows.”
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