James Layfield
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James Robert Layfield, British Entrepreneur, (born 1974, Kingston upon Hull, UK) is regarded as one of the new generation of entrepreneurs in the mould of UK innovators Richard Branson of Virgin Group and the late Anita Roddick founder of the Body Shop.
Layfield, like other notable entrepreneur, Adam Balon of Innocent Drinks, gained essential early experience as part of Branson’s Virgin Group.
At 29, Layfield was the youngest ever Managing Director of a Virgin business, running Virgin Student, one of the earliest social networking sites in the UK.
In 2007 James was cited for his 'sheer bravery and guts' in the list of “Top 30 Under 35 UK Entrepreneurs” compiled by Growing Business Magazine (http://www.growingbusiness.co.uk) and is listed in the 2008 edition of Who's Who of Britain's Business Elite.
Layfield’s own businesses now include a youth marketing agency, The Lounge Group (http://www.theloungegroup.com), an airport lounge business, and a development and management company, Never Ever Limited.
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[edit] Early life
On a French Exchange Trip, at the age of 10, Layfield was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up and replied with another question, ‘How do you spell ‘entrepreneur’?’
Shortly afterwards, he started his first business, JayLay Eggs, a door-to-door sales and delivery operation that was highly successful until the advent of the salmonella in eggs scare triggered by the ill-chosen words of Edwina Currie MP.
Layfield’s dyslexia went undiagnosed until he was 18 years old and is a condition statistically linked to entrepreneurialism and the ownership of multiple businesses according to the International Herald Tribune.
Other high-achieving dyslexics include Sir Richard Branson and Charles Schwab, founder of the largest brokerage in the US (ibid.).
James was headhunted into Virgin Group as a Brand Director at the tender age of 25. He joined the first Awakenings trip to South Africa with Sir Richard Branson, Dame Kelly Holmes and Jean Ollwange of Virgin Group charity,Virgin Unite, meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2004.
[edit] Businesses
In 2005 Layfield established youth marketing agency, The Lounge Group, with business partner Sara Gil. The Lounge Group was founded on the maxim that ‘the market knows the market’ and is typical of Layfield’s modus operandi as an entrepreneur and showman. The business gains its credibility from a network of under-35-year-old associates spread across the UK which Layfield claims, with characteristic bravura, to be unique.
Fittingly, Virgin Mobile was one of The Lounge Group’s founding clients and the agency has gone on to gain business from a number of Europe’s most innovative client businesses including Samsung, EA, Disney, Miller Genuine Draft, Nivea, Alliance & Leicester Bank and Unilever.
The Lounge Group has doubled its turnover in each year of its existence.
Escape Airports Limited was Layfield’s second business and a diversification from consultancy to consumer-facing operation. Escape provides airport lounges for pay-as-you-go and airline customers, operating with more than thirty airlines in New York. In 2008 Layfield disposed of this business for an undisclosed sum and founded his third company Never Ever Limited.
[edit] Never Ever Limited
Never Ever Limited is Layfield’s development and management company currently overseeing delivery of ‘The Question Mark Inside’, a major public art project by renowned public artist Martin Firrell commissioned by St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Never Ever Limited functions as an early-stage incubator across Layfield’s entrepreneurial interests which include Pan European expansion of The Lounge Group, the launch of a new PR agency, and a new entertainment proposition, the Vegas Project.
