Happy Birthday Theo
Biography
Born in Limassol, Cyprus 24th 1959 September Paphitis is the second oldest of five brothers, Marinos, George, Christos and Xanthos. He came to England with his parents and brother Marinos when he was nine years old. He attended the local comprehensive school in North London where he battled with dyslexia, but began his entrepreneurial activities by running his school tuckshop , at the age of 15.
Business career
Paphitis took a job as a tea boy and filing clerk at a City of London insurance broker. Wanting more money, he discovered his passion for retailing and sales, working as a sales assistant for Watches of Switzerland in Bond Street
Aged 21, he joined Legal & General selling commercial mortgages, which taught him to read other businesses’ balance sheets:
Finance meant getting stuck into other people’s business – and I’m a nosy bugger. You had to go through the business, you had to go through all the bits and pieces. My curiosity was enough to get me to ask the right questions.
Aged 23, he set up a property finance company with close friend and business associate Mark Moran, and kept going when the friend left in partnership with Hanover Druce, making his first money on the rise of the 1980s commercial property markets. Spotting the rise in mobile telephones, he bought into NAG Telecom, becoming chairman alongside fellow director Tony Kleanthous (now chairman of Barnet FC). Paphitis gained massive market share for NAG by negotiating concessionary positions in Ryman stationery stores.
When Ryman went bankrupt, Paphitis approached the administrators and bought the company. He turned it around by improving relations with suppliers, and enthusing the management team, cementing his reputation for turning failing companies into highly successful and profitable businesses. His ventures now include Ryman, Contessa, and Partners. He co-owns Red Letter Days with fellow Dragons’ Den businessman Peter Jones. In 2006, he sold his equity stake in the UK and EU segment of the global lingerie brand, La Senza, for a reported £100m.
At the end of 2008 Paphitis was one of several interested parties in bidding for failed retail chain Woolworths. However he later pulled out because of unrealistic numbers quoted by the administrators
Football
As chairman, Paphitis took Millwall out of administration, took the team to Wembley Stadium, saw their first ever official appearance at Millennium Stadium, and saw the Lions win promotion to Division One as champions. He is perhaps best known for his work to reduce football hooliganism, and appointing as Millwall manager Dennis Wise, who guided the club to their first official appearance in the FA Cup Final in 2004. Paphitis left Millwall on 21 July 2006 and was succeeded as Chairman by Peter de Savary.
Paphitis holds a large percentage of Isthmian League side Walton & Hersham.
Television
After appearing on series four of the BBC Back to the Floor series while chairman at Millwall FC, and selling his stake a year later, Paphitis was approached to become one of the “dragons” in the second series of the BBC Two entrepreneurship series Dragons’ Den in 2005 and has continued to appear in the show, which is now in its eight series (2010). Paphitis is known as a straight-talking but approachable and sincere ‘dragon’ who has made many investments on the show, both alone and as a ’50/50′ with another dragon invester.
Business philosophy
Paphitis attributes his success to his natural common sense, and his favourite motto is a famous business school motto: KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. His view on business is:
There are three reasons to be in business. To make money, to have fun – and to make money.
Paphitis has also been severely criticised for his misogynistic and anti-feminist views. On the issue of female equality in the work place he has been quoted by Kira Cochrane of the Guardian newspaper as having said: “All this feminist stuff,” he said, “are we seriously saying that 50% of all jobs should go to women?” Paphitis went on to note that women “get themselves bloody pregnant and … they always argue that they’ll be working until the day before, have the baby, go down to the river, wash it off, give it to the nanny and be back at work the following day, but sure enough, their brains turn to mush, and then after the birth the maternal instincts kick in, they take three months off, get it out of their system and are back to normal”. On the subject of paternity leave he suggested that he thinks “it’s a bit soppy”.
Personal life
Paphitis lives with his wife Debbie in Weybridge, Surrey, to whom he refers as Mrs. P on Dragons’ Den. They have five children – two sons and three daughters – and three grandchildren. Two of these five children are twins.
Known to be something of a “petrolhead” and a big fan of Formula One, his first car, like fellow “dragon” Peter Jones, was an Alfa Romeo Alfasud, and he presently owns a chrome Maybach 62, Mercedes SL63 AMG and a Toyota Land Cruiser. His car collection have a series of personalised number plates, including T1HEO and RYM4N (on the Maybach). When interviewed on the BBC show Top Gear in July 2008 he set a time of 1:48.5 around the Top Gear Test Track in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment. Jeremy Clarkson named Theo as “Theo Pamphlet” on the leaderboard. Paphitis’ brother, Marinos, is director for the South Eastern region of the Learning & Skills Council.
