How to become a profitable telecoms company
Terry Matthews is Wales' original and sole billionaire, and ranked among the 5 wealthiest individuals in Britain. Although at first sight the goatee-sporting man in the unsightly outfit, shoes and shirt in the lobby of the Celtic Manor Resort barely seems the role: more like a Valleys candidate or modest entrepreneur. Until he speaks. He emits a torrent of words, anecdotes, stories, complemented by a flurry of gestures.
He made his cash in 2 ways. First of all, by developing his own enterprises and selling them on, and also providing the resources for start-ups and spin-offs. He started work at 16 yrs old in BT's analysis labs in Dollis Hill, and converted vacations in Canada at 26 to an indefinite stay. He founded Mitel in 1972, producing integrated circuits and inventing private switchboards (PBX).
Ex-chief executive of mobile phone company Caudwell Group, John Caudwell spends most of his time supporting his aid organization, Caudwell Children, which has donated in excess of $23 million to disabled kids. Raised in a working-class household , in 1987 he launched his cellphone wholesale company, later on known as Phones4U, with his brother, Brian.
The two began buying 26 devices from the United States, and then marketing them for a large mark-up in England. In 1993 the brothers started Singlepoint, a cellular service provider that had 1.9 million customers when Vodafone acquired the enterprise in 2003 for $650 mil. He pumped the capital into Phones4U and in 2006, sold off his controlling share to Providence Equity Partners for $2.8 bn. In 2011 he sold his leftover 25 percent stake for $272 million.
He has neighbouring manors in London's high-end Mayfair area where he's developing a 14,000-square-foot subterranean extension connecting both residences that should include a swimming pool, bar, salon and game area. He will not make use of foreign tax havens and was titled the UK's biggest income tax payer.
The grandchild of fishing tycoon Carl Ross, founder of certainly one of Great Britain's largest commercial fishing firms, David Ross graduated with a certification in Law from the University of Nottingham yet is most likely best known as the co-founder of the cell phone giant The Carphone Warehouse Group plc, having directed the company's subsequent expansion into Europe's leading cellular communications dealer.
Over the last decade, David has been actively involved in leading numerous additional public and independent corporations, like Big Yellow Group, Cosalt, National Express, Wembley National Stadium and Trinity Mirror.
His main goal these days are his philanthropic efforts by means of the David Ross Education Trust, the David Ross Foundation and his annual Nevill Holt theatre production.
