Wednesday 05 August 2026 10:47 am  |  Updated:  Wednesday 05 August 2026 10:58 am

Britain needs a new Richard Branson

By: Philip Salter

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Richard Branson continues to be the best champion the UK has as a place to do business despite founding his first business decades ago. Branson is a global success, but he should have a successor by now, says Philip Salter

A few months after England lifted the 1966 World Cup, Sir Richard Branson started working on his first successful business, a magazine called Student that he launched two years later.

When we asked our network of founders, in partnership with Public First, which entrepreneur best champions the UK as a place to do business, Sir Richard came top. Of course, Virgin’s founder is a genuine global success story, but I suspect even he might have expected — indeed wanted — a successor by now.

After all, Hurun’s 2026 index finds a record 80 UK unicorns worth a combined £242.4bn, putting the UK third globally behind only the United States and China. There’s no shortage of........

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