Richard Branson
Founder of the Virgin Group, which encompasses more than 400 companies, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Records.
Read the entryBRITISH LEGACY / THE COLLECTION
Business Leaders
British business leaders have been instrumental in shaping global markets and industries. Their entrepreneurial spirit and strategic vision have led to the success of many multinational corporations.
80 entries
James Dyson: the engineer who rethought the vacuum cleaner
From the Ballbarrow to cyclonic vacuum technology, James Dyson built a design-led business after manufacturers turned down his bagless cleaner.
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Anita Roddick and the business of ethical change
The Body Shop founder made social and environmental causes part of her company’s public identity, and helped bring ethical consumerism into the beauty business.
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John Cadbury: cocoa, conscience and a Birmingham business
The Quaker founder built a cocoa business in Birmingham and pursued causes ranging from temperance to workers’ rights.
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William Lever: soap, industry and the limits of philanthropy
The Lancashire grocer built a soap-making business, a model village and a public legacy whose achievements sit alongside controversies over workers’ lives and colonial labour.
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J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter, Pottermore and Lumos
The author of the seven-book Harry Potter series also extended its world through digital publishing and founded a charity campaigning for family-based care for children.
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Tim Martin: building a pub group with a distinct identity
The founder of J D Wetherspoon combined rapid expansion with a recognisable approach to pubs—and became a prominent voice in British political debate.
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Stelios Haji-Ioannou: building the easy brand
The British-Cypriot entrepreneur founded easyJet in 1995, then extended his business interests into shipping and a family of travel and leisure ventures.
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Alan Sugar: Amstrad, business and the boardroom
From selling car aerials from a van to building a household name, Alan Sugar made consumer technology and business competition part of British public life.
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John Hargreaves and the rise of Matalan
The Liverpool-born entrepreneur built a UK discount clothing and homeware chain from a single Preston store.
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Philip Green and the rise and fall of Arcadia
The retail executive built a vast British fashion group around familiar high-street names. Its collapse, and the controversy over BHS, made his record a more complicated story.
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Terry Leahy: the Tesco chief who made customer knowledge a strategy
From a Liverpool childhood to the leadership of Britain’s largest retailer, Leahy reshaped Tesco through loyalty data, international growth and a broader retail offer.
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Peter Jones: business ventures, television and enterprise education
From mobile-phone distribution to Dragons’ Den, Peter Jones has built a public career in business and enterprise education.
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Deborah Meaden: business, television and a West Country legacy
From an export agency and family holiday business to Dragons’ Den, Meaden’s career has connected entrepreneurship with a prominent place in British television.
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Duncan Bannatyne: from ice-cream vans to Dragons’ Den
The Scottish entrepreneur built businesses in care, fitness and hospitality before becoming a familiar face on British television.
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James Goldsmith: financier, corporate raider and political maverick
A French-British businessman built a global fortune through acquisitions, then founded the Referendum Party to campaign for a vote on Britain’s place in Europe.
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Warren Buffett: the investor’s British footprint
The American investor’s Berkshire Hathaway backed Tesco and acquired an interest in Iscar, but the scale of his wider effect on Britain is harder to establish.
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John Lewis: the draper behind a British retail institution
The Oxford Street shopkeeper built a major department-store business. The employee-owned partnership associated with his name took shape under his son, John Spedan Lewis.
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Rowan Gormley and the Naked Wines model
The South African-born entrepreneur founded Naked Wines after an earlier venture with Virgin Wines, building an online business around relationships between customers and winemakers.
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Nicholas Wheeler
Founder of Charles Tyrwhitt, a British menswear retailer.
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John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley: BP and beyond
The Cambridge-educated engineer led BP through a period of expansion and diversification, while promoting investment in alternative energy and later taking on prominent roles in public life.
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David and Frederick Barclay: business, newspapers and the Ritz
The London-born twins built a far-reaching business empire, held influential British newspapers and owned the Ritz. Their story also includes disputed deals, public controversy and the sale of their best-known assets.
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Richard Desmond: building and selling a media empire
From music publishing to Channel 5, Desmond assembled a varied portfolio whose businesses ranged from celebrity magazines to adult television.
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Mike Ashley: retail expansion and Newcastle United
A Maidenhead sports shop grew into a national retailer, while Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle United made him a central figure in English football.
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Simon Wolfson: leading Next and entering public life
The Next chief executive became one of the youngest leaders of a FTSE 100 company, and later joined the House of Lords.
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Tony Pidgley: building Berkeley Group
From a small haulage business to one of Britain’s largest housebuilders, Pidgley made Berkeley Group the defining enterprise of his career.
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Michelle Mone: business, public life and the PPE Medpro controversy
From a Glasgow lingerie start-up to the House of Lords, Mone’s career combines commercial ambition with a public record later overshadowed by the PPE Medpro affair.
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Julie Deane and the Cambridge Satchel Company
How a Cambridge venture begun with £600 brought a traditional school satchel to a wider fashion audience.
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Tom Singh: building New Look from Taunton
Born in Punjab and educated in Wales, Singh founded a British fashion retailer in Somerset in 1969 and later invested in online clothing sales.
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Charles Dunstone: building a market for mobile phones
From selling handsets out of a London flat, Dunstone built Carphone Warehouse into a major European retailer and helped establish TalkTalk.
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Brian Souter: building Stagecoach and its wider reach
The Scottish accountant helped turn a bus operation launched in 1980 into an international transport group, while his public life also brought sharp controversy.
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Ann Gloag: Stagecoach co-founder and charity campaigner
The Perth-born businesswoman helped build a major transport group and has supported medical work for women affected by obstetric fistula.
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Emma Harrison and the rise of A4e
The businesswoman became a public face of welfare-to-work provision; her tenure at A4e also brought scrutiny of public contracts, payments and accountability.
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Jim Ratcliffe: building INEOS and a British industrial footprint
The chemical engineer founded INEOS in Hampshire and expanded it into a global group, while investing in British manufacturing, vehicles and sport.
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Alex Chesterman and the digital reshaping of property search
The Zoopla founder brought listings, price histories and local information together online, then turned his attention to the used-car market.
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Stephen Rubin and the growth of Pentland Group
As chairman, Rubin led a company whose portfolio included Speedo, Berghaus and other sporting brands.
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James Palumbo and the making of Ministry of Sound
How a South London nightclub grew into a music brand spanning recorded music, radio and fitness.
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Richard Reed: Building Innocent Drinks and backing new ventures
The Innocent Drinks co-founder helped turn a market-stall idea into an international business, then backed other entrepreneurs through JamJar Investments.
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Guy Hands: private equity, Terra Firma and the EMI gamble
The English financier built Nomura’s Principal Finance Group before founding Terra Firma. His career spans major acquisitions, a costly dispute over EMI and substantial support for Mansfield College, Oxford.
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James Dyson: the engineer who rethought the vacuum cleaner
From early inventions to the bagless cleaner, Dyson built a career around redesigning familiar objects and supporting engineering education.
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