Theo Paphitis was born in Cyprus. He came to England when he was six and was running the tuck shop at his north London school at 15. Starting out as tea boy at a City insurance broker, he found his flair for retail as a shop assistant at Watches of Switzerland. Theo returned to the insurance industry in sales at 20, where he discovered his natural ability of pointing out the obvious and applying common sense (which is not common). In no time he was helping businesses in difficulty and this soon became a full time role.

He has turned Ryman, Contessa, La Senza and Partners the Stationers into successful and profitable retail businesses. He now heads up a 350 store chain and a group turnover approaching 250m. Other ventures include Red Letter Days, the company he salvaged out of administration with fellow BBC Dragon Peter Jones.

As a former Chairman of Millwall FC. Theo is also very much into football.