Sir Richard Branson is a British entrepreneur whose career spans more than five decades and whose influence extends across music, travel, space and leisure. He dropped out of school at 16 and launched his first venture, Student magazine. Soon afterwards, he started a mail-order record business, which evolved into Virgin. In 1972, he opened a Virgin Records shop, and by the 1980s Virgin had diversified into airlines with Virgin Atlantic.

Over time, the Virgin Group expanded into telecommunications, health care, space tourism with Virgin Galactic, and lifestyle ventures, operating in more than 35 countries. Branson has always positioned business as an opportunity to challenge the status quo — he emphasises entrepreneurship, risk-taking and creative branding. He is also active in philanthropy via his foundation Virgin Unite, advocating for sustainability, social development and the empowerment of other entrepreneurs.

Despite the scale of his business interests, Branson is known for maintaining a public persona of adventure — from yacht and balloon crossings to the sub-orbital flight aboard a Virgin Galactic spacecraft in 2021. Today, Branson remains an executive figurehead for the Virgin brand, focusing on strategic direction, new ventures and maintaining the company’s ethos of innovation and social purpose.