Sir Richard Harpin is one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs and a passionate advocate for helping the next generation develop entrepreneurial skills and confidence.
Born and raised in Yorkshire, Richard showed an entrepreneurial instinct from a very young age. By the age of six he was already trading, and as a teenager he built and sold a fly-fishing tackle business that paid for his first car and the deposit on his first home.
After graduating from the University of York and spending several years at Procter & Gamble, Richard co-founded HomeServe in 1993 with a £50,000 investment and a simple idea: make home repairs easier and more reliable for customers. Over the next three decades, HomeServe grew into a FTSE-250 company serving millions of customers worldwide before being sold in 2023 for £4.1 billion.
Since stepping back from day-to-day corporate leadership, Richard has focused on supporting entrepreneurs and helping more businesses scale successfully.
He works with founders and CEOs through Business Leader, a platform supporting leaders of growing companies, and Growth Partner, an investment and mentoring platform backing ambitious businesses.
Alongside his work with entrepreneurs, Richard is deeply committed to inspiring young people to explore entrepreneurship and develop real-world skills, which he does through his charity The Enterprise Trust.
