In recent years we have seen many British-born entrepreneurs.  Richard Branson is the man behind the Virgin empire.  He started doing business when he was 15 and still at school.  More recently there has been Phillip Green who is the brains behind Arcadia, a retailing fashion empire.  But the man in the news in the UK at the moment is Stelios Haji-Ioannou who started the ‘Easy’ empire.  Find out more about him and his company by reading this shortened version of Mark Tran’s article, published in The Guardian on 18 April 2002.

Before you read, try this activity to help with some words used in the article.

Being an entrepreneur

An entrepreneur needs to combine the daring of a swashbuckler and a flair for the eye-catching publicity stunt.

The founder of easyJet, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, had those qualities by the bucketful. Where others such as Freddie Laker failed, Mr Haji-Ioannou, has succeeded. The Greek son of a millionaire started easyJet out of Luton airport in 1995 with two leased Boeing 737s, offering flights to Edinburgh for £29. By the time it was listed on the London stock exchange in 2000, it was worth £860million, giving Mr Haji-Ioannou a personal fortune of £280m.illion

Along the way came some entertaining PR wheezes. When British Airways launched Go, for example, Mr Haji-Ioannou booked himself and some employees, all dressed in their orange uniforms, onto the inaugural flight. But managing a publicly listed company is quite different from running a start-up. Mr Haji-Ioannou today announced that he is to step down as chairman.

However, 'It's the entrepreneurial drive of people like Stelios Haji-Ioannou that makes companies a success and it's good corporate governance that ensures companies continue to be a sustainable success in the long term,' said one of easyJet's institutional shareholders, the Cooperative Insurance Society (CIS).

Even though Mr Haji-Ioannou is stepping down as easyJet chairman, the self-described 'serial entrepreneur' will have plenty to do. His other projects range from easyRentacar and easyInternetCafe to plans to sell cheap cinema tickets called – yes, you guessed it – easyCinema.

Check your understanding of the article with this activity.

You have read about Stefan Haji-Ioannou, but what about you?  Could you potentially be an entrepreneur?  What kind of qualities do you need to be a successful entrepreneur in today’s world? Try this activity and decide which qualities are necessary.