From market stall trader to CEO of a £1.2 billion company

Inspiring leaders at a past MD2MD LeaderFest conference, Rikki Hunt shared how he progressed from stall trader on a market in Liverpool, to the youngest ever CEO of a british petroleum company at the age of just 36.

He was expelled from school at 15, drove south until his car ran out of petrol where he went to a shop to ask for a job – and got it!  With this confidence, belief and shrewd business sense, Rikki has succeeded in everything he set out to do.  He has created Start ups and, as an experienced managing director, successfully transformed existing companies in the Retail and Technologies sectors with turnover up to £1.2 billion.

He admits that the key areas for his success are perseverance, looking after your staff, integrity and the philosophy of “the more you give, the more you get back”.  Rikki also likes to be constantly challenged about his decisions, thoughts and ideas and very much advocates the use of business coaches.

In his spare time, Rikki has also climbed the highest mountain on four continents, visited the magnetic north pole twice and spent a month marooned on a desert island with his family for a BBC survival program called “The Real Swiss Family Robinson”. He has also had a book published by Gower entitled “Creating a Thinking Organization”.

Written by Bob Bradley, founder of MD2MD.