Who would be a good entrepreneur to do a report on?

Answer 1

Richard Branson Virgin Group
because he's game for anything. In fact, everything.

Whatever else he may be doing at any moment (the "whatever else" here being preposterous understatement), Richard Branson is also cutting a figure.

You've seen it. There's the grin (not smile), the goatee he's worn since decades before everyone else did, the still-leonine head of hair that even at age 54 gives him the appearance of always plowing through the wind like a man on the prow of some very sweet ship. He's short, but people say you don't notice it because he never stands in one place long enough for the necessary comparisons. He's one of those fearless, twinkling guys you hear about who's always certain that the next thing -- the very next -- well, that will be something else, that'll be the best. Branson for better or worse is brio personified. Everything about him seems propelled. That figure he cuts is anything but irrelevant. The more you look, the more you realize it might be the most important of several important things about him.

Not that Branson's body of work isn't admirable. Beginning with a student newspaper at age 17 and a record label to which he signed the Sex Pistols in his mid-20s, Branson has built the Virgin Group into an international conglomerate of some 350 companies, many of them still tiny but all of them combining for more than $8 billion a year in sales. We know, of course, about Virgin's music businesses and transcontinental airline and pay-as-you-go mobile phone service -- which the company claims has become the fastest business ever to reach $1 billion in revenue. Most of us have glimpsed newscasts about Virgin Galactic, Branson's bid to take paying customers into space. And we're all soon to hear incessantly about Virgin's launch of a domestic air carrier in the United States, which Branson judges to be a miserably served market.

But how many of us know about Virgin's limousine companies and wine business and trains, and its enterprises that rent bikes, make cosmetics, operate bridal shops (Virgin Brides), run health clubs, sell holidays, offer balloon flights, and market lingerie (VirginWare -- "sleek, smooth, and sexy underwear")? Though it's hard to picture anything Branson does as being underpublicized, only 10% of Virgin's business is done in the States, so most of us here are bound to overlook the odd juice bar and manicure shop in the swelling Virgin empire. Branson can't seem to stop himself, and he doesn't appear to care how badly he gets flamed by critics (starting with the much-maligned 1984 launch of the now extravagantly successful Virgin Atlantic airline). Said one guru/academic, echoing many: "A brand can't stand for music stores, airlines, mobile phones, colas, financial services, and on and on. There's no brand on earth that can do that. That's ego."

Branson shrugs. "Yeah, I know," he says. "The conventional wisdom is you should specialize in what you know and never stray from that, but no other brand has become a way-of-life brand the way Virgin has. And it wasn't us setting out to become a way-of-life brand, it was me continually being interested in learning new things. We've got people all over the world who are coming up with great new ideas, and trying them doesn't actually cost us a lot relative to the overall size of the group." So they try. In the process Virgin has developed a business method that Branson calls "branded venture capital," whereby he starts and manages all manner of new companies under the Virgin name while partners provide most of the investment.

On the February afternoon when Branson is explaining all this by phone he happens to be sailing into Antigua, his cell connection coming and going as he rounds some headland or other and then picks his way through yachts in Nelson's Dockyard, which the seasoned Caribbean sailor will recognize as one of the partyingest of the Leeward Islands ports. Branson had Virgin colleagues aboard, and later that night would be sharing a spirited evening out with 15 or 20 of them, his notebook as ever alongside. "I keep a notebook in my pocket all the time," he says, "and I really do listen to what people say, even when we're out in a club at 3 a.m. and someone's passing on an idea in a drunken slur. Good ideas come from people everywhere, not in the boardroom.

"Anyway, it'll be a really fun evening, I'm sure," he says innocently, seeming genuinely unaware of whatever envy he might be triggering on the other end of the conversation. "I always have tried to make sure I work from an environment that's pleasant and fun. If the chairman's having fun, it's easier for everyone else.

"And if it's fun, you're going to keep going until you drop."

The afternoon's expensive floating obstacles be damned, Branson was characteristically free with his thoughts as he talked. Here are excerpts from what he said:

"The world is a massively more hospitable place for entrepreneurs than it was 20 years ago. In most industries it is virtually possible to think of the world as one country. All our expansion plans are overseas: China, India.... We're really not interested in a new thing unless it can become global."

"Even the smallest, youngest companies should not be frightened to go overseas. The opportunities in the world are immense -- China has a growth rate of 9% to 10% a year, and you should go there and participate in it and enjoy it. Enjoy it."

"Lavish praise on people and people will flourish; criticize people and they'll shrivel up."

"Give people a second chance if they screw up. Even people who have stolen from us have become, when given a second chance, incredibly loyal and valued employees. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't been given second chances."

"If you can run one business well you can run any business. There just needs to be a crying-out need for you to enter the marketplace. The time to go into a business is when it's abysmally run by other people."

"Most of our businesses do succeed, but if something completely fails, then as long as we bow out gracefully and pay off all our debts, and nobody gets hurt, then I don't think people disrespect Virgin for trying. The public appreciates someone having a go; it appreciates the attempt. Who's been a success in life who hasn't failed?"

"It's important for the company's sake that the chairman not get bored."

"My general philosophy in life is you never really go wrong saying yes."

"I want Virgin to be as well known around the world as Coca-Cola."

It's that last comment that too many observers have used to sum Branson up. And yet, even the Coke comparison does him inadequate justice and risks missing the point. Coca-Cola has never opened a business to fly passengers to the moon. Nor has it expanded into online auto sales. Or railroad operations. Or any of a hundred other things Branson's appetite has led him to undertake. Will that appetite thin Virgin's brand to worthless dilution? It'll be a kick to watch and find out.

But back to that figure the man cuts, because in the end it's not the deliriously ambitious branding ploy or even the deliriously ambitious appetite that attracts us to Branson and braces us, and offers us inspiration. It's something about the figure itself, the way it is not just sensible and straightforward but steadfastly alert and delighted and fun.

When is Branson working? When is he not? It all appears so seamless and so authentically pleasing. Unlike many of our most vaunted and imitated entrepreneurs, Branson forever strikes one as not compulsive or haunted or even, strangely enough, driven -- though no one ever questions his drive. No, instead he just keeps looking like he's on the prow of that sweet boat, grinning because he knows a secret, happy because he doesn't know exactly what's next but is absolutely sure that it won't be dull and will quite possibly be a good deal better even than that.

Answer 2

That's a very general question. There are a lot of ways to approach this, depending upon the assignment and your interests. Does it have to be a current entrepreneur? Or
could it be someone who started a company which made
a big difference in history? Do they want someone whose
company has become huge and global, or would a successful local entrepreneur, such as a restaurateur or dry cleaner, do?
Do you have any particular interests which would make this report more valuable for you? Do you want to know about a
woman, a person of color, a gay entrepreneur, or one of a
particular religous, national or economic background? Is there an industry which excites you? If you are really into music or sports or technology or fashion, finding out about someone who succeeded in one of those areas might make the whole project more interesting to you, and thus probably to your professor.

Answer 3

the lady who invented wonderbra. or someone like that. something quirky that you can form opinions over. people like donald trump and branson would work better in a compare/contrast.

ever seen dragons den? that shows some potentially interesting entrepreneurs as both the "dragons" and visitors

Answer 4

The folks at www.rocketboom.com

The migration of TV as a key source of entertainment to on-line, on-demad programing. These folks have a leg-up on that. They are running one of the fastest growing video blogs around (they get more viewers than several CNN shows. How will this trend effect music, advertising and the movie industry? Its gonna be fun to watch.

Answer 5

Oprah Winfrey

Answer 6

Donald Trump?

Answer 7

The founders of Curves for Women. It was a couple by the name of Gary Heavin and his wife Diane.

Answer 8

Thursday, August 31, 2006
U.S. entrepreneur prepares to be first female space tourist PDF | Print | E-mail

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STEVE GUTTERMAN - The Associated Press
STAR CITY, Russia -- Like millions of children, Anousheh Ansari dreamed about the stars. Next month the Iranian-born U.S. entrepreneur can get a closer look, as she rides a Russian capsule to the international space station and becomes the first female space tourist.

The most exciting moment in her voyage will likely come when she first sees Earth "as a blue, glowing globe against the dark background of the cosmos," Ansari, 39, told a news conference Wednesday at the Russian cosmonaut training center outside Moscow.

Ansari is scheduled to ride to the station aboard a Soyuz TMA-9 capsule, along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and Spanish-born U.S. astronaut Miguel Lopez-Alegria. She will spend 10 days before returning to Earth with its current crew, Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams, who have been on board since April 1.

The Soyuz launch is scheduled for Sept. 14 but it could be delayed four days if a launch of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis interferes. That would happen if the shuttle takes off for the station anytime from Sept. 6-8, which is likely, said Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of state-controlled RKK Energiya, Russia's leading space company.

Whatever the date, the trip promises a dream come true for Ansari, who said space was "in my heart and in my soul."

"I always used to gaze at the stars and wonder what's out there in the universe, and wonder if there are others like me pondering the same questions somewhere else out there," she said. "I hope this flight brings me one step closer and helps me realize what's out there."

Ansari, who with her husband co-founded the Texas-based company Telecom Technologies, Inc., is following in the path of space tourists Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth and Greg Olsen, who also traveled to the international space station aboard Russian capsules.

Ansari's contract bars her from revealing the trip's cost, but she noted previous space tourists have paid some $20 million. Another of her companies, Prodea Systems Inc., is sponsoring her trip. Prodea has been involved in space adventures before, helping to fund a competition with a $10 million prize for the first privately financed manned spacecraft to make a suborbital flight. That contest, called the "X Prize," was won in 2004 by a vehicle called SpaceShipOne.

Dressed in civilian clothes, Ansari said she wore shoulder patches with the U.S. flag and a flag with Iranian colors at a recent appearance because "both countries had something to do with the person I am today." Ansari moved to the United States when she was 16.

"I feel very close to the Iranian people and the culture of the country," she said.

Her trip has gotten limited attention in her homeland. An Iranian astronomy magazine -- "Nojoom," Farsi for "Stars" -- had an article about her in August, saying it was a point of pride to have an Iranian going into space.

But the trip has not been mentioned in state-run media, possibly because of her American citizenship.

Ansari said she hoped her voyage and her life would inspire young people worldwide, "especially women and girls."

Once at the station, Ansari said, she will shoot films demonstrating the laws of physics to be used at schools, and in efforts to promote interest in science and technology. She also will conduct experiments on microbial growth in zero-gravity, and on lower back pain experienced during space flight, she said.

Tyurin, the Russian commander of the Soyuz crew, will take a swing at a golf ball during a space walk in a publicity stunt to promote a Canadian golf club manufacturer. He suggested the brief golf outing would be like a day away from the office, saying space walks "

Answer 9

Michael Dell, founder/CEO of Dell computers, because he started building computers in his living room or garage and now is worth hella-millions.

Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, same reason; couple of outcast computer geeks who are worth buku.