| Sir Richard showed his entrepreneurial streak early, setting up a student magazine when just 16.
He was only 20 when he founded the now internationally recognised Virgin brand and soon displayed the unique flair that grew the group to over 200 companies worldwide. Starting out as a mail order record retailer, and shortly afterwards opening a record shop in London, Branson built the business signing up artists no-one else dared to touch, like Mike Oldfield, who recorded ‘Tubular Bells’, and the Sex Pistols. Going on to sign many household names from Culture Club to the Rolling Stones, helped make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world.
The Virgin brand can now be seen splashed across not just CD labels but phones, credit cards, drinks, hotels, trains, aircraft, and even spaceships.
The Group has expanded into leisure, travel, tourism, mobile, broadband, TV, radio, music festivals, finance and health and is investing in renewable energy and resource efficiency through Virgin Green Fund. It employs approximately 50,000 people, in 29 countries with Global branded revenues exceeding £11 billion (approx. US$17 billion).
The master of self-promotion, Branson has gained star status with his numerous high profile world record stunts (many successful) and flamboyant product launches – all the while building invaluable brand awareness.
With a seemingly insatiable appetite for starting new businesses, especially a market dominated by a few major players, he has become popular for his ‘game for anything’ approach and philosophy of fun and value. He was knighted in 1998 for his “services to entrepreneurship”.
Sir Richard holds strong convictions about humanitarian and environmental initiatives and devotes considerable time, resources and energy towards them
He is always open and generous when sharing his business ‘secrets’ – the unwavering values and beliefs that have seen Virgin become almost as recognisable as Coca Cola (his goal).
“My general philosophy in life is you never really go wrong saying yes.” |
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