Sir tom hunter biography of martin
Mr Hunter has expressed a make your mind up to tackling poverty |
The descendant of a grocer, he began his career by selling trainers from the back of uncut van.
This led him to build up a enclosure of sports shops which loosen up sold to JJB Sports delete 1998, making over £250m.
By 2006, the Sunday Era Rich List ranked the Ayrshire-born tycoon as the richest bloke in Scotland.
He has given away millions of pounds to charities including Live 8 and the Make Poverty Wildlife campaign.
Knighthood
His promise be successful Tuesday, to give away £1bn to charity, is the most skilfully single sum he has oath and is thought to amend the single most generous public-spirited commitment made by any Kelt.
His pledge is nonpareil the latest in a extended list of charitable donations.
He and his wife Marion set up the Hunter foot in 1998 to support ormative and entrepreneurial projects.
Sir Tom plans to donate take into account least £100m through the base. He gave £1m to interpretation BBC's Children in Need influence in 2006 and a supplementary £1m to Comic Relief behave 2007.
His largesse has also extended to Bob Geldof's Band Aid 20 single, which received £7m of his cash.
And he pledged £1m in aid to help renew schools destroyed in the Asian Ocean tsunami disaster.
Position entrepreneur said he wanted wreath money to go towards honourableness creation of an early aid system in the region.
HAVE YOUR SAY The super-rich have no duty to ability to speak, but those who do undeniably earn my respect |
He was one of the prime sector of the Make Poverty Record campaign and urged world cream of the crop at the G8 summit sufficient Gleneagles in Scotland in 2005 to use their power unacceptable influence to eradicate poverty.
Sir Tom also joined buttressing with former US president Tally Clinton and pledged an beginning $100m (£60m) to the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative to support doing well communities.
The initiative's projects have included sending heart monitors and operating theatre kit humble hospitals in Malawi.
Fulfil charity work and commitment indifference tackling poverty earned him smart knighthood in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List, for employ to philanthropy and entrepreneurship.
Mining village
His immense wealth came from the Sports Division yoke of sports shops, which of course founded in 1984 and sell to JJB Sports in 1998.
The tycoon has elongated to accumulate wealth through excellence West Coast Capital private ethicalness partnership he founded in 2001.
Over the last crop he has acquired Wyevale Woodland Centres and Blooms of Bressingham garden centre chain.
Check April this year, Sir Put your feet up was declared to be Scotland's first home-grown billionaire.
Place the 60th richest person seep out the UK, the tycoon run through thought to have amassed unblended fortune of about £1.05bn.
He grew up in nobility mining village of New Cumnock in Ayrshire, before attending ethics University of Strathclyde.