Theo Paphitis - Dragon’s Den Special November 16

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Mini CV

- Came to the UK from Cyprus in 1966 aged six
- Started as a tea boy at Lloyds of London
- Purchased the Ryman stationery chain from receivers in 1995 for £5 million
- Has turned around Millwall Football Club, La Senza, Contessa, Ryman and Partners the Stationers

Theo Paphitis - Millwall

Theo Paphitis is a 47-year-old Greek Cypriot millionaire who has made his huge fortune through turning around companies in the UK.

One of the panel of potential investors that hopeful entrepreneurs pitch to on the BBC series Dragon’s Den, Paphitis has generated cash in the stationary, lingerie and football sectors and is famous for taking ailing companies and breathing new life into them.

Born in 1959 in Limassol, Cyprus, his family emigrated to north London when he was just six years old. Paphitis started to run his school tuck shop at 15, leaving school at 16 and starting work as a tea boy and filing clerk for insurance broker Lloyds of London.

The young entrepreneur moved to Watches of Switzerland as a shop assistant at the age of 18, followed by experience in the finance, corporate and property markets, specialising in turning around companies.

At 23, Paphitis set up his own company, purchasing a series of struggling businesses, including stationers Partners and Ryman, and underwear groups Contessa and La Senza.

Paphitis bought the Ryman stationery chain from receivers in 1995 for £5 million and managed to completely change its fortunes, following this with the purchase of a 60 per cent stake in lingerie chain La Senza in 1998 for £1.

The mogul sold the majority of his stake in La Senza for £100 million over the summer to venture capitalist Lion Capital and has recently done the same with his smaller Contessa chain.

Former Millwall chairman Paphitis took control of the London club in a £10 million deal in 1997, rescuing it from administration, and has seen the team get to its first ever FA Cup Final, as well as moving close to getting into the Premier League on a number of occasions.

The entrepreneur became a Dragon on BBC Two programme Dragon’s Den in 2005 for the second series and is currently appearing in series three.

For his next project, Paphitis purchased the assets of ailing adventure and activity gifts company Red Letter Days from administrators with fellow Dragon Peter Jones in August 2005 and is now working on turning around its fortunes.

His motto is: “There are three reasons to be in business. To make money, to have fun - and to make money.”

The millionaire currently lives with his wife in Surrey and has five children and two grandchildren.

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