Role Models

I was born in Littlehampton in 1942. As the child of an Italian immigrant couple in an English seaside town, I was a natural outsider, and I was drawn to other outsiders and rebels. James Dean was my schoolgirl idol.

Businesses have the power to do good. That’s why The Body Shop’s Mission Statement opens with the overriding commitment, ‘To dedicate our business to the pursuit of social and environmental change.’ We use our stores and our products to help communicate human rights and environmental issues.

The first shop was opened in 1976 and now 30 years on The Body Shop is a multi local business with over 2,045 stores serving over 77 million customers in 51 different markets in 25 different languages and across 12 time zones.

My early travels had given me a wealth of experience. I had spent time in farming and fishing communities with pre-industrial peoples, and been exposed to body rituals of women from all over the world. Also the frugality that my mother exercised during the war years made me question retail conventions. Why waste a container when you can refill it? And why buy more of something than you can use? We behaved as she did in the Second World War, we reused everything, we refilled everything and we recycled all we could. The foundation of The Body Shop’s environmental activism was born out of ideas like these.

I am aware that success is more than a good idea. It is timing too. The Body Shop arrived just as Europe was going ‘green’. The Body Shop has always been recognisable by its green colour, the only colour that we could find to cover the damp, mouldy walls of my first shop.

For me, campaigning and good business is also about putting forward solutions, not just opposing destructive practices or human rights abuses. With The Body Shop and Anita Roddick Publications, I will continue fighting for human rights and against economic initiatives and structures that abuse and ignore them. That’s a tall enough order to keep me busy for the next 30 years.

(Photography by Simon Punter. Visit www.anitaroddick.com for more info on Anita!)

You know the feeling when some everyday product lets you down. ‘I could have designed this better myself’, you think. But how many of us turn our thoughts into actions? James Dyson does. He is a man who likes to make things work better. With his research team he has developed products that have achieved sales of over £3 billion worldwide.

James first product, the Sea Truck, was launched in 1970 and was soon followed by a series of other creations; the ballbarrow, the wheelboat and the trolleyball. In 1978, James stumbled across the idea of a bagless cleaner whilst renovating his house. 5 years and 5,127 prototypes later, the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner from Dyson arrived. Known as the ‘G Force’, it was first sold in Japan where the Japanese were so impressed by its performance that it became a status symbol, selling for $2,000 a piece!

Following his success in the far-east James Dyson decided to manufacture a new model under his own name in Britain. In June 1993 he opened a research centre and factory in Wiltshire and developed a machine that collected even finer particles of dust (microscopic particles as small as cigarette smoke). The result was the DCO1, the first in a range of cleaners to give constant suction. Since its introduction the DC01 has become the best-selling vacuum cleaner ever and now outsells its nearest competitor by 5:1.

To Dyson, `design’ means how something works, not how it looks – the design should evolve from the function. That’s why the people at Dyson who design products are called `engineers’.

The Dual Cyclone™ system is the first breakthrough in vacuum cleaner technology since its invention in 1901. Nonetheless Dyson scientists have not stopped seeking new innovations. They have created vacuum cleaners with even higher suction, ones you don’t have to push around and are constantly re-examining products of all types.

The Dual Cyclone™ was nearly never made due to patent and legal costs. Unlike a songwriter who owns the song he writes, an inventor has to pay substantial fees to renew his patents each year. During the development years when James Dyson had no income, this nearly bankrupted him. He risked everything, and fortunately the risk paid off. Considering it took James Dyson over 14 years to get his first product into a shop, it’s heartening to know that you can now buy Dyson products in 22 countries worldwide.

In 1995 Sahar Hashemi returned to the UK after a trip in America and decided she couldn’t live without Skinny Latte’s. From this initial spark, Coffee Republic was born and with it a whole range of new ways to drink coffee! Sahar has now left the £30 million business she co-founded with her brother Bobby and last year saw the launch of her new venture, Skinny Candy. Again the idea came from Sahar wanting something which wasn’t already out there, in this instance healthy sweets. A full-range is now available including Jelly Bears, Cola Bottles and Belgian Milk Chocolate. All are sugar free, but use a natural alternative which is kind to teeth and half the calories. Sahar describes her greatest achievement as taking that initial leap and doing something for herself. By seeing the idea through she has succeeded in making her dreams come true.

Sahar’s three tips for wannabe entrepreneurs are:

1. Genuinely believe in your idea as a customer. Be obsessive and passionate about your product but don’t put too much pressure on yourself. There are lots of obstacles as you are creating something new, but you’ve got to convince yourself that these can be overcome.

2. Do your homework. You have to be a world expert about the market you are in and know your competitors.

3. Plan it out and persist, persist, persist! Nothing comes easy but entrepreneurship is about doing something you want to do. You have to work hard as you’re in charge of the evolution of your business. It’s up to you to bring it to life. Don’t just talk about doing things, take action. Write a to-do list and make sure you cross something off it every day.

Remember – You are a pioneer and the world is there for you to grab.

In 1997 Rock stage designer Simon Woodroffe spent the last of his savings opening a revolutionary new restaurant. YO! Sushi enticed customers with an all-out Japanese attack on the senses. Talking Robots, karaoke, massages and manga provided an all new eating experience with food reaching diners via conveyor belt. The restaurant has since gone on to win over 40 restaurant and business awards with 17 outlets opened nationwide. Simon, meanwhile, has looked to expand the YO! brand into new areas including clothing, hotels and spas, with many more new ideas already in the pipeline!

“I never met the person who went out to do what they dreamed of and regretted it regardless of later success or failure but I met many who looked back and wished they had taken more risks and gone through the pain of change when they had the opportunity. Whatever you dream, begin it, one percent improvement a day is 100% improvement at the end of just 3 months………CAN I ? standing for Constant And Never ending Improvement…apply it to yourself on a minute by minute basis…”

At 39 years of age Stelios, who prefers to be called by his first name, is best known for creating easyJet PLC when he was 28. He is often credited as the pioneer who changed the European aviation scene by offering low-cost, scheduled flights. A serial entrepreneur, Stelios has established more than 16 ventures. Nowadays he sees himself more as the manager of the easyGroup brand and licences it to a wide range of businesses. These cover areas as diverse as Internet cafés, car hire, online price comparison, personal finance, cinema, buses, male toiletries, on line recruitment, pizza delivery, music downloads, mobile telephony, hotels, a cruise line and wrist watches!

Stelios was born in Greece on the 14th of February, 1967 , the middle child of Loucas and Nedi Haji-Ioannou. He was educated in Athens to High School level and in 1984 continued his education at the London School of Economics. After also graduating from the City University Business School, he set-up his first venture, Stelmar Shipping, at the age of 25. This would eventually go on to be sold for $1.3 Billion in 2005.

In 1995 Stelios created easyJet with flights operating between Luton and Scotland. By the following year they were offering international flights and have since gone from strength to strength, competing with the biggest airlines in the market. easyJet PLC is now Europe’s largest low cost airline by revenues with a fleet of 100 jets and growing and in 2005 they carried 30 million passengers. The firm has also been subject to a docusoap based on the passengers and staff. This was first filmed in 1999 and has proved so popular that the cameras have stayed with the company ever since.

Stelios is also keen to “give something back” and has interests in both education for under-privileged students and sustainable development. To this end he has agreed to fund 100 scholarships for both of the Universities which he attended and has founded the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association (CYMEPA).