«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

Throughout his life, Branson, who will be a keynote speaker at the Atlantic Dream Festival next Thursday, has brought his personal dreams down to terra firma. Forbes magazine puts his personal wealth at US $4 billion. His magic touch has brought fame and no small fortune from businesses ranging from recordings, to airlines, to bridal shops, to mobile phone networks - and promises more of the same in upcoming ventures into space tourism and movie production. And through it all, the world has seen this uber-relaxed man with the famous smile and affability trumping the alpha males of business, whose rules he has broken at every turn. And it's all been one long run of fun, fueled not by money-lust, but by a playful pursuit of vision. As he once told the New York Times, "I never started out to make money. I have gone into projects out of a personal belief that we can do something special that we can be proud of. "Successful entrepreneurs never cost out a project. They have a vision that something is not being done properly and they can do it better."

Nbbusinessweekcanadaeast.com