Richard Branson

Richard Branson is one of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs, currently reported to be worth over $3billion. His company Virgin Group encompasses a huge range of industries, ranging from media and communications to travel and healthcare.

Born in Blackheath, South London in 1950, Richard Branson struggled at school as a result of suffering from dyslexia. He soon discovered that his real talent was for communicating with people, and his first successful business venture was a magazine named ‘Student’, when he was just 16 years of age.

In 1970, Branson started a mail-order record selling company under the name ‘Virgin’. He picked the records up cheap by buying unsold, or ‘cut-out’ records, allowing him to sell them on at a much cheaper price than the larger retailers of the time. He eventually opened a records shop in London, and with the proceeds bought a recording studio and founded Virgin Records. As the company grew, so did Branson’s fortune, and in 1984 he founded Virgin Atlantic Airlines, initially providing cross-Atlantic flights between the UK and USA, but eventually growing to become one of the biggest and most recognisable airlines worldwide.

In 1993, he continued his investment in the travel industry by founding Virgin Trains, and moved into communications in 1999 with the creation of Virgin Mobile, providing mobile phone services. In 2006, Virgin Mobile merged with NTL:Telewest to form Virgin Media, which offers a range broadband, television and phone services. In 1999 he also formed Virgin Active, a chain of health clubs found in the UK, South Africa, Australia and several other countries.

Virgin Group is a particularly forward thinking organisation, investing in the development of various technologies and sciences for the future. In 2004, Branson founded Virgin Galactic, a company which plans to offer the first sub-orbital space flights to the general public. Flights would travel over 100km above sea level, allowing passengers to experience weightlessness. The first flights of this nature are understood to be planned for some time in 2011. In 2007, Branson started Virgin Health Bank, which offers parents the chance to store the stem cells of their newborn baby in the hope that if the child becomes ill later in life, the stem cells may help save their life.

Branson has also set up the Virgin Green Fund, which invests in companies involved in developing renewable energy in the US and Europe. Branson is a keen believer in alternative fuels, and in 2006 announced that he would invest the profits of Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Trains in research of environmentally-friendly fuels.

Branson has attempted numerous record-breaking journeys, including being in the first team to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon. He often appears in cameo roles on TV and in films, often as himself and sometimes as a background character, adding to his global recognisability. He was knighted in 1999 for ‘services to entrepreneurship’.

Branson owns Necker Island, a small private island in the British Virgin Islands. He bought the island aged 28, just 6 years after setting up Virgin Group – an indication of the incredible speed with which he found success.

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