What you believe ....you create

Denys was awarded an OBE in 2013 by Her Majesty The Queen for Services to the Economy- this was for his Government work as the founding Chairman of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership. His drive and determination set this LEP to become one of Britain's most progressive. Denys drove 100 apprentices in 100 days, the new M40 junction works at Gaydon for Jaguar Land Rover and many other projects.

Background :

His parents Peter & Rosemary Shortt spent 20 years in Assam working for the Jorehaut Tea Company managing their Rungagora Tea Estate and Langharjan Tea Estate (1952-70). Denys spent his first 6 years of life at Langharjan from 1964-1970.

In 1971 his family moved to Mabale Tea Estate near Fort Portal, Uganda for a year and left when Idi Amin was causing mayhem. They then lived in Kenya for 2 years - running the brand new Ikumbi Tea Factory at Thika owned by Brooke Bond at that time and now KTDA.

With parents abroad he boarded at Eagle House School in Surrey in 1970 from the age 6. He then attended Warwick School from age 11-18

Denys was selected to play England Hockey at the age of 15 and went on to play both International indoor and field hockey until the age of 22.

He believes that international sport has created his drive and determination in business.

Businesses :

Denys now emloys over 600 people in his businesses.

In 1994 Denys started DCS Group which now has sales of £270 million. The company has grown every year for 26 years. DCS Group is the Official UK Sales & Distribution company for P&G, Unilever, Colgate, PZ Cussons, SC Johnson, J&J and more.

Denys created the Enliven brand of toiletries which is sold in 75 countries around the world.

In 2020 he invested £5 million into DCS Manufacturing - a new 91,000 sq ft factory in Redditch which makes liquid fill toiletries for major brands and supermarket chains.

In 2017 DCS moved to a state-of-the-art new HQ in Banbury covering 25 acres. The highly efficient Distribution centre has 400,000 sq ft of warehousing and handles over 100 articulated lorries per day. In 2020 he invested £5m into a huge extension at Banbury.

Denys has also started several software companies with co-partner Andrew Butt.

Enable Software - based in San Francisco and Stratford-upon-Avon, has sales of £6 million and employs 150 people. In 2020 Enable won $13m of funding from Menlo VC and Sierra Ventures. In 2021 a further $50m was invested by Menlo, Sierra and Norwest Ventures. Enable is aiming for IPO in 2024/5

Denys and Andrew sold their second software company Enable Infomatrix to Alcumus.

Personal Interests :

Land Rover collector

Passionate about flying helicopters - owns a Robinson R44.

Farmer breeding pedigree Belted Galloway cattle and honey farm with 2 million bees - The Cotswold Honey Company

Voluntary & Community roles :

Former Advisory Board - Warwick Business School at Warwick University

Former Chairman - Stratford-upon-Avon Cancer & Eye Hospital Appeal

Former Chair Farm491 Advisory Board at Royal Agricultural University

Founder - The Tea History Collection

Co-Founder - The London Tea History Association

Former Chairman - Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership