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Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Founder and Chairman, Easygroup
At 38 years of age Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who prefers to be called
by his first name, is best known for creating EasyJet PLC when he
was 28. He is often credited as the pioneer who changed the European
aviation scene for the benefit of millions of consumers. EasyJet
PLC was partially floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2000 but
Stelios remains the largest single shareholder. A serial entrepreneur,
Stelios has established more than 16 ventures, the first of which
was Stelmar Shipping at the age of 25.
Stelios floated this oil tanker company on the NYSE in 2001 and
in 2005 he sold it to OSG Shipping Group for approximately $1.3
Billion. Nowadays, acting through his private investment vehicle,
the EasyGroup, which owns the easy brand and licenses it to the
various easy branded ventures, including the airline, Stelios sees
himself more as the manager of the brand and less as a manager of
one of the companies. He continues to extend the brand by creating
new easy branded ventures in the areas of travel, leisure, telecoms
and personal finance.
EasyJet PLC which is Europe's largest low cost airline by revenues
with a fleet of almost 100 jets and growing, is expected to carry
30 million passengers in 2005. Other EasyGroup companies, which
are detailed at the EasyGroup portal www.easy.com, cover areas as
diverse as Internet cafés, car hire, online price comparison,
personal finance, cinema, buses, male toiletries, on-line recruitment,
pizza delivery, music downloads, mobile telephony, hotels and a
cruise line!
On the "giving something back" side, Stelios is interested
in education for under-privileged students and sustainable development.
In1992 he founded CYMEPA, the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection
Association. This is a non-profit making association of ship owners
and Cyprus-based business people who believe in sustainable development.
In 2005 he made a pledge to his alma mater, the London School of
Economics, worth £2m for the funding of 100 scholarships over
10 years. The students will be known as the Stelios Scholars.
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