Richard Branson Biography
Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is one of today’s best examples of what it means to achieve the utmost of one’s dreams and live the life of unimaginable wealth, as a multi billionaire business guru and the genius behind the Virgin labels he is certainly someone to look up to. The energetic sixty year old was born on July 18 1950 in Blackheath, London, England, UK and it seemed like entrepreneurship was embedded in his genes since by the age of sixteen he was already the owner of his first business.
Branson was born to an aristocratic English family that was headed by his parents Eve Branson and Edward James Branson he lived in an upper class home and was educated at prestigious and wealthy schools. He attended the Scaitcliffe School in London, England, and the Stowe School also in London, although Branson enjoyed the privilege of being in top academic institutions it did not do much to aid his grades that greatly suffered and were never near those of his classmates. In addition to being a poor performer young Branson’s health was failing and many a times he had to miss school as bouts of sickness put him in hospital most of the time, despite this he remained a laughing stock in his class and was ridiculed by his peers for failing to excel.
Much to the surprise of Branson’s critics he went into business in 1966 when he had just turned 16, although not much, the venture was centred on a student paper that was created out of his own imagination, this moved impressed Branson’s schoolmates and teachers and many could not understand how the class trailer could come up with such an advanced idea and develop in from conception to the complete package.
Branson discovered that he enjoyed coming up with concepts and turning them into visual successes so continued he continued on with the trend by setting up his first commercial venture outside school, this was a mail order record shop that he named Virgin, it was to be the beginning of over four hundred companies that would thrive under the worldwide billion dollar label.
The second of Branson’s ventures was a record shop in one of London’s back streets, named Virgin Records, it begun much like any other business and the first few sales had to be sold by driving around to anywhere customers could be. Step by step and Virgin Records grew to Virgin Megastores in 1972, a group of retail outlets that offered low cost records to a rising number of clientele.
Branson is most popular for the Virgin Atlantic Airways, a line of state of the art airplanes that offer travellers luxury and comfort in the sky, a key factor in all Virgin labels is that class and elegance is of the utmost importance, something that rivals many competitors especially those in the airlines business.
Under the massive Virgin Records music label Branson has worked with noted names like The Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols and Culture Club. Branson owns a large number of the Caribbean Islands which he uses to promote tourism, travel, leisure housing and green projects among others.
His circle of friends includes dignitaries like Desmond Tutu, Graca Machel and Nelson Mandela, Branson is also respected for efforts to encourage a world of advanced ideas through gatherings of intellectual minds.
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