Male: When do you consider him a business genius or an over the top showman, it's no doubt flamboyant Sir Richard Branson is one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. Inspired by his mother and aunt who started up successful ventures from a scratch, Branson entered the business world aged just 16.
Five years later, he opened the record store chain at Virgin Mega stores and then launched the record label Virgin Records. During the 1980’s and 90’s Branson built up the Virgin Group to include Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Mobile phones, Virgin Trains and now Virgin Galactic, a new space tourism company. Once his business empire was established, Branson was able to indulge in another great passion for the aviation records.
In a cunning marketing move, his record attempts have been closely tied to the Virgin Brand generating millions of dollars in free publicity, every time he hits the headlines. But he says he has a pure motive.
Richard: As an airline being able to develop a plane that is capable of flying around the world using the latest technology and the latest composites we believe could be pioneering aviation for the future.
This plane will fly around the world if it’s successful only using nine tons of fuel. Our other planes would use about one and a half thousand tons of fuel. So it shows the enormous leap forward in technology.
Male: But Branson admits he wasn’t always an environmentalist.
Richard: I think that the real worry about global warming is something which has only ready letup in the last couple of years. I mean I’m guilty of it. I hadn’t fully appreciated the dangers until the last 12 months or 18 months. Now I realize the dangers. I know we got to do something about it. We’ve got to spend money investing in alternative fuels and in the meantime we got to cut CO2 emissions as dramatically as we possibly can.
Male: Branson is known for his humanitarian efforts starting his first charity at age 17. He recently founded the Branson’s school of entrepreneurship in South Africa.
Richard: Africa is a wonderful place and it has been through so much misery and a lot of bit so unnecessary and so many afflictions. I mean that it has something wonderful earlier you mentioned all these handouts from America but he actually ended by saying, empires do not last forever and maybe in 50 or 60 or 70 years time America will become heart and hand to South Africa.
Male: However, in between the worthy causes Branson finds plenty of time to have fun.
Richard: Well, it's strange for me being you know a businessman, oblique entrepreneur. I’ve had some wonderful invites to appear in different films. I’ve been in the Bond film, at Superman film which we took of in at Virgin Galactic and Spaceship and we were attacked by the body and my son and I would flying the spaceship and then the little sports something like Friends and Baywatch and Only Fools and Horses. So I spend a lot of my life in the sense you know being the front man of Virgins did a little bit of acting’s that there is quite fun to do actually do some real acting for sure.
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