Entrepreneur doesn't shun limelight

CHRIS Gorman has had his share of the limelight – both good and bad.

From his high-profile court case – standing in the dock alongside leading Scots entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter to be unsuccessfully sued for £100 million by two former Gadget Shop business partners – to his starring role on TV's Make Me a Million, he has not been a shrinking violet on the Scottish business stage.

These days, the self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur" has his fingers in several pies – all of them relatively small.

Born into relative poverty in the north-east of England, Gorman initially made his fortune with telecommunications pioneer DX Communications, which he started with Richard Emanuel in Glasgow in the early 1990s.

His retail work went on to see him invest heavily in the Gadget Shop alongside Hunter. But in 2005, two of his co-investors, UBS trader Jon Wood and Freeserve founder Peter Wilkinson, decided to sue the pair after Hunter's West Coast Capital vehicle took control of the Birthdays card-shop chain.

A dramatic and bitter legal case ensued, with details of both Hunter's and Gorman's personal lives dragged through the courts – the complainants accused Gorman of a wild party lifestyle, including "dancing on tables".

The pair were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing, being declared "entirely honest" by the judge.

But Gorman, who is understood to have a personal fortune of £42 million, according to the Sunday Times rich list, isn't one to hold a grudge.

"I was at an event last week which Jon was at," he laughs. "There were 700 people there so I didn't see him but I had a really loud sparkly tie and if I had seen him I was going to say to him 'no loud shirts today – just a loud tie'.

"I don't hold any bitterness – holding negativity doesn't help going forward.

"They thought if they put all that personal stuff in a statement we wouldn't let it go to court. But I don't care what comes out. I wanted to stand by what I believe in."

And the incident, if anything, brought him closer to Hunter.

He explains: "Me and Tom are great friends and see each other pretty regularly, as I am too with Richard (Emanuel]. Life's too short to lose touch with people when you move on to other things."

Now firmly ensconced in a luxury pad in Bridge of Weir, where he lives with wife Mary, five-year-old daughter, two teenage sons and a group of his sons' fellow band members, he is counted as a Scottish businessman through and through after 19 years living north of the Border.

His rambling home boasts a recording studio used by his 18-year-old son Blair's band Tamika's Treehouse, as well as multiple flat-screen TVs, a bar, disco and a swimming pool, while Gorman himself is dripping with designer bling – a diamond-encrusted pendant hanging around his neck.

With a grand staircase leading from the front hall, the public face of his property is a cosy mix of family life – photographs of his children adorn the walls alongside Degas prints – and also the nucleus of Gorman's business world, with an entire wing dedicated to the workings of his empire.

Businessman John McGlynn, chairman and founder of car park group Airlink, remembers Gorman from his post-DX days. He recalls: "I met Chris ten years ago because his kids were at my old school and we were both asked to come in and speak as young entrepreneurs.

"I just thought 'This guy's a real livewire and a bag of energy.' If I had 10 per cent as much energy and drive as him I'd be happy. He became a mentor for me – the profits in my company have gone up tenfold in the time I've known Chris and a large proportion of that is down to him and his support."

But he adds that the famous Gorman love of partying is not a myth.

"You cancel anything else in your diary for a Gorman party," he chortles. "They are legendary. He and Mary had a massive party in Spain for their anniversary and it was the best thing I've ever been to. He knows how to let his hair down."

Hunter, whom Gorman still counts as a close friend and mentor, says: "He's a jack-in-the-box. He's always got his business head on, no matter what he's doing. In the recent past he's been doing lots of different things and I'm sure one of them will turn out to be a big deal in the near future."

And Gorman himself admits his business head is never switched off. Just back from a star-studded wedding in London at the time of our interview, he is as delighted he managed to meet new contacts which he says will be key to his plans for some of his businesses, as he is happy for the bride and groom.

The plain-talking businessman has so many projects up his sleeve that his intricate network of contacts is imperative to his success.

His work at Lucid, a radio play management company, could be a major help for his son's band – which may, in turn, be a future venture for Gorman.

He says: "When the time's right I'll go into helping them – it won't be a full-time thing for me but it'll be one of my projects."

And in addition to around another dozen or so projects, he has been a board adviser of social networking site Bebo for around a year.

"I made a few quid the other week because I had a small share in that. Having invested a lot of the last couple of years it was nice to get some money back out."

Now, as chairman of the Enterpreneurial Exchange, he is very clear what the word means.

He says: "I think we have an issue in Scotland in terms of confidence. People think their marketplace is confined to Scotland, whereas in London, they think the world is their marketplace.

"Entrepreneurs often do very well in tough economic conditions – there's almost nothing to lose and people really go for it."

FROM CONCIERGE SERVICES TO ONLINE POKER

DESPITE his history of taking major stakes in high street retailers, Gorman's latest strategy is to keep a finger in many, smaller, pies.

His business card, which he has to keep to hand to keep a check on exactly what he has a financial interest in, boasts around a dozen companies – ranging from an exclusive concierge service for wealthy business travellers called Quintessentially, to radio play management company Lucid.

While Lucid and Quintessentially take up the majority of his time – he usually deals with some queries for the pair on a daily basis – he is also involved with online poker site Purple Lounge, My Mart, which is essentially an eBay for the mobile phone, and gaming site awomo.com, which Gorman hopes will float on the stock exchange within 18 months, to name but a few.

He says: "I like being involved with technology companies – that's what I understand and what I do best – so I think that's where I'll stay at the moment."