EasyJet’s Stelios Takes the Bus, Funds Disabled Entrepreneurs
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June Samaras
Nov 25, 2009, 5:00:34 PM11/25/09
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EasyJet’s Stelios Takes the Bus, Funds Disabled Entrepreneurs
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Interview by Farah Nayeri
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the no-frills
airline EasyJet Plc, lives in Monaco much of the time. To get around
the sunny tax haven, he sometimes takes the bus.
Stelios (known by his first name) and his family are No. 81 on the
2009 Sunday Times Rich List for Britain and Ireland, worth 544 million
pounds ($902 million). The 42-year-old now lets others run EasyJet,
and focuses on newer discount brands that all start with the word
“Easy.” As the group’s public face, he seeks to avoid brazen displays
of his own wealth.
Stelios also devotes time to philanthropy. He has pledged 3 million
pounds to the institutions where he studied -- London School of
Economics and Cass Business School -- and funds startups in the U.K.,
Cyprus and Greece. Tomorrow, for the third year in a row, a
50,000-pound Stelios award will go to a disabled U.K. entrepreneur.
“People should try and give back in a way that suits their own
talents,” says Stelios from a nondescript meeting room in London’s
Mayfair district, part of his EasyOffice work-space- for-hire brand.
“If I can inspire other entrepreneurs, that might be a more powerful
way of giving.”
The Cypriot-born entrepreneur exudes energy, and seems in a permanent
rush. Tall and sturdy, he wears a navy suit over an open-neck shirt.
Rewarding Entrepreneurship
The award -- run by the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity, which
cares for 21,000 people worldwide -- has three entrepreneur nominees.
One supplies amputee extras and stuntmen for film, television and
casualty training; another markets a hand-operated gearshift system.
Stelios, who realized that 50 percent of disabled adults in the U.K.
are jobless, decided to promote self-employment by creating the prize.
“He’s very involved all the way through the campaign,” says Desiree
D’Souza, the charity’s head of corporate partnerships. “It’s really
using what he’s good at.”
Another of his ideas is centered on Cyprus, the divided island where
his family is from. On Dec. 18, Stelios will give 50,000 euros each to
five ventures involving at least one Greek- Cypriot and one
Turkish-Cypriot. Forty-six applicants have “reached out and found
someone from the other side,” he says.
Business “may have a profound impact on the way they perceive each
other,” says the self-described pacifist. “The quicker we see the
island as one united place, the better.”
Stelios’s shipping-magnate father Loucas gave him the seed money to
start his own shipping company at age 25. EasyJet was founded three
years later; he and his family still own 38 percent of the Luton,
England-based company, which is now Europe’s second-biggest discount
airline. Stelios was knighted in 2006, and remembers Queen Elizabeth
II asking him if he was the man from EasyJet.
‘Basket Cases’
Beside the airline, Stelios has 16 brands listed on his group’s
Easy.com site, including EasyPizza, EasyMusic, and EasyWatch.
Recession and cheaper real-estate have boosted prospects for
EasyOffice, as well as EasyHotel and EasyBus.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the brand works better in
travel,” he says, noting that EasyHotel, which he invested almost
nothing in, was valued at 60 million pounds before the crisis. “Will
it be the next Holiday Inn?”
I ask how the other brands are doing. He says he’d be happy,
ultimately, with a track record of “a third, a third, a third” --
meaning “a third will do well, a third will do average, a third will
be basket cases.”
“Provided the basket cases do not eat up the money of the good ones,
then we’re okay,” he smiles.
Why create so many brands and risk basket cases? “You keep the brands
alive because you have to,” Stelios replies. “It serves no purpose
closing them down, it stops other people from keeping the name, and
you run a bit like a venture capitalist, but without actually letting
companies go bust.”
‘One Big Idea’
I mention that the world expects him to produce another EasyJet. “It’s
not going to happen,” he says, recalling how, at one point, he staked
100 million pounds of his own money on EasyJet. “I’m not going to risk
everything on one big idea. I’d be stupid.”
Nobody else is creating wealth these days, either, he says: “If we’re
going to be honest with ourselves, most of our net worth has come
down, hasn’t it?” According to the Rich List, he and his family are
268 million pounds poorer than last year.
This is where public transport comes in. Stelios says he now takes his
EasyBus service, instead of a chauffeured car, to the airport. He
shows me his “well-used” Oyster card, swiped on the London
Underground, and his Monaco bus pass.
Monaco is his main base now because “I’m a Mediterranean person: I
like the weather, and I like the security,” he says. The “fiscal
benefit” helps, too, though other places have that. In winter, he
rests at his home in St. Barts, because “I don’t like cold weather.”
He describes himself as “single, no kids” and shuns further questions
about his private life.
Looking ahead, Stelios sees himself running the Easy group for as long
as he lives. “This is my retirement job,” he says, then disappears in
a flash to his next appointment.
To contact the writer on the story: Farah Nayeri in London at
Far...@bloomberg.net.
--
June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamo...@gmail.com
(or) kalam...@aol.com
www.kalamosbooks.com
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
Interview by Farah Nayeri
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the no-frills
airline EasyJet Plc, lives in Monaco much of the time. To get around
the sunny tax haven, he sometimes takes the bus.
Stelios (known by his first name) and his family are No. 81 on the
2009 Sunday Times Rich List for Britain and Ireland, worth 544 million
pounds ($902 million). The 42-year-old now lets others run EasyJet,
and focuses on newer discount brands that all start with the word
“Easy.” As the group’s public face, he seeks to avoid brazen displays
of his own wealth.
Stelios also devotes time to philanthropy. He has pledged 3 million
pounds to the institutions where he studied -- London School of
Economics and Cass Business School -- and funds startups in the U.K.,
Cyprus and Greece. Tomorrow, for the third year in a row, a
50,000-pound Stelios award will go to a disabled U.K. entrepreneur.
“People should try and give back in a way that suits their own
talents,” says Stelios from a nondescript meeting room in London’s
Mayfair district, part of his EasyOffice work-space- for-hire brand.
“If I can inspire other entrepreneurs, that might be a more powerful
way of giving.”
The Cypriot-born entrepreneur exudes energy, and seems in a permanent
rush. Tall and sturdy, he wears a navy suit over an open-neck shirt.
Rewarding Entrepreneurship
The award -- run by the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity, which
cares for 21,000 people worldwide -- has three entrepreneur nominees.
One supplies amputee extras and stuntmen for film, television and
casualty training; another markets a hand-operated gearshift system.
Stelios, who realized that 50 percent of disabled adults in the U.K.
are jobless, decided to promote self-employment by creating the prize.
“He’s very involved all the way through the campaign,” says Desiree
D’Souza, the charity’s head of corporate partnerships. “It’s really
using what he’s good at.”
Another of his ideas is centered on Cyprus, the divided island where
his family is from. On Dec. 18, Stelios will give 50,000 euros each to
five ventures involving at least one Greek- Cypriot and one
Turkish-Cypriot. Forty-six applicants have “reached out and found
someone from the other side,” he says.
Business “may have a profound impact on the way they perceive each
other,” says the self-described pacifist. “The quicker we see the
island as one united place, the better.”
Stelios’s shipping-magnate father Loucas gave him the seed money to
start his own shipping company at age 25. EasyJet was founded three
years later; he and his family still own 38 percent of the Luton,
England-based company, which is now Europe’s second-biggest discount
airline. Stelios was knighted in 2006, and remembers Queen Elizabeth
II asking him if he was the man from EasyJet.
‘Basket Cases’
Beside the airline, Stelios has 16 brands listed on his group’s
Easy.com site, including EasyPizza, EasyMusic, and EasyWatch.
Recession and cheaper real-estate have boosted prospects for
EasyOffice, as well as EasyHotel and EasyBus.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the brand works better in
travel,” he says, noting that EasyHotel, which he invested almost
nothing in, was valued at 60 million pounds before the crisis. “Will
it be the next Holiday Inn?”
I ask how the other brands are doing. He says he’d be happy,
ultimately, with a track record of “a third, a third, a third” --
meaning “a third will do well, a third will do average, a third will
be basket cases.”
“Provided the basket cases do not eat up the money of the good ones,
then we’re okay,” he smiles.
Why create so many brands and risk basket cases? “You keep the brands
alive because you have to,” Stelios replies. “It serves no purpose
closing them down, it stops other people from keeping the name, and
you run a bit like a venture capitalist, but without actually letting
companies go bust.”
‘One Big Idea’
I mention that the world expects him to produce another EasyJet. “It’s
not going to happen,” he says, recalling how, at one point, he staked
100 million pounds of his own money on EasyJet. “I’m not going to risk
everything on one big idea. I’d be stupid.”
Nobody else is creating wealth these days, either, he says: “If we’re
going to be honest with ourselves, most of our net worth has come
down, hasn’t it?” According to the Rich List, he and his family are
268 million pounds poorer than last year.
This is where public transport comes in. Stelios says he now takes his
EasyBus service, instead of a chauffeured car, to the airport. He
shows me his “well-used” Oyster card, swiped on the London
Underground, and his Monaco bus pass.
Monaco is his main base now because “I’m a Mediterranean person: I
like the weather, and I like the security,” he says. The “fiscal
benefit” helps, too, though other places have that. In winter, he
rests at his home in St. Barts, because “I don’t like cold weather.”
He describes himself as “single, no kids” and shuns further questions
about his private life.
Looking ahead, Stelios sees himself running the Easy group for as long
as he lives. “This is my retirement job,” he says, then disappears in
a flash to his next appointment.
To contact the writer on the story: Farah Nayeri in London at
Far...@bloomberg.net.
--
June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamo...@gmail.com
(or) kalam...@aol.com
www.kalamosbooks.com
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