Richard Branson (Founder of the Virgin Brand) - Entrepreneur Profile October 23

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Name: Richard Branson

Date of Birth: 18/11/1950

Mini CV:

- Began selling records by mail-order in 1970
- Founded Virgin Records in 1973, a year after setting up a music studio
- Formed Virgin Airways in 1984 and Virgin Mobile in 1999, among other high-profile additions to the Virgin name
- Knighted in 1999 for ’services to entrepreneurship’

Sir Richard Branson - Virgin Galatctic Entrepreneurs rarely come more high-profile than Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin empire has grown almost into part of the nation’s consciousness since it started out as a small record firm 33 years ago. Today he is seen as the shining example of an entrepreneur who blends a fierce drive with excellent personal skills and a deep public conscience - with his billion-pound successes proving to be the icing on the cake.

Sir Richard’s path was in fact not as straightforward on early on - he did not shine at school, suffering from dyslexia and performing poorly in most quantifiable tests. Finishing his education at 16 he would have to completely self-make through his own energy passion, and it was his innovative ‘Student’ newspaper for young people, which debuted when he was 17, which eventually sowed the seeds for Virgin Records - originally a spin-off of the paper.

What followed for Virgin, and the sheer velocity of its progress, is fairly well known. Sir Richard has always been willing to thrust himself firmly in the spotlight, to remain clearly visible, to promote Virgin almost through the sheer force of his own presence and personality. How many major firms’ owners become something akin to celebrity? Not many, and this is because Sir Richard has always been willing to put himself on the line for his business. His passion for daredevil travel exploits - such as his record boat and hot air balloon crossings of the Atlantic Ocean - has etched him particularly firmly into the annals of fame, and done no harm whatsoever for the prestige and ubiquity of the Virgin name.

So what’s next? Music stores, fizzy drinks, aeroplanes, trains, mobile phones and a generally unsurpassed international brand mean that you’d think Sir Richard has done it all. His current attentions seem largely to be channelled towards fuel, energy and the reduction of harmful emissions into the environment. Having pledged £3 billion of Virgin’s money to go towards renewable energy initiatives over the next few years, Sir Richard also sketched out in September the group’s highly detailed plans to improve the efficiency of aircraft movements, reducing harmful CO2 emissions by burning less fuel.

Also on his list of visionary projects is Virgin Galactic, which was launched in 2004 and aims to be taking passengers into space in the very near future for sums of around $200,000.

Sir Richard Branson’s life can hold many lessons for the budding businessperson, and a lot of these were expounded in his fascinating autobiography, ‘Losing My Virginity’. But his inauspicious academic career, along with what followed it, does tell a tale - because rather than any innate ability with facts or figures it was his unshakeable self-belief (which caused his former headmaster to say that he would either end up as a prisoner or a millionaire) and willingness to grasp responsibility, to take control and to put himself in the public sphere, which saw him set out on the way towards his current status. His experiences can teach a young entrepreneur that indifferent grades at school or college do not have to preclude a glitteringly successful career, and suggest that personal qualities and integrity carry as much weight as anything else.

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