High-flyer proving Britain's got talent

Walsall businessman Richard Harpin will be among the world's best young entrepreneurs in the South of France this weekend. Deputy Business Editor Simon Penfold tells his remarkable story.

He's a multi-millionaire tycoon who regularly flies his helicopter home from his West Midlands business for bathtime with his young children.

But today the boss of Walsall's biggest private firm was jetting out to Monte Carlo to prove that Britain's got business talent.

Richard Harpin, who runs home repair insurance group Homeserve, is one of the finalists in the Ernst & Young World Enterpreneur event, being held this weekend, after scooping the UK title last year.

And he has the backing of one of the nation's best-known businessmen, Sir Alan Sugar, who says: "I hope that Richard goes all the way and picks up the award. Like me, Richard is passionate about encouraging the next generation of entrepreneurs to take the plunge and set up in business."

In his enthusiasm to promote careers in business to youngsters, Mr Harpin takes time from his busy schedule to visit schools all over the country, often turning up in his helicopter.

"They usually run a business competition to tie in with my visit," he says. "The prize is a trip in my helicopter.

"It was a helicopter that helped inspire me. When I was small we lived in a cul-de-sac in Huddersfield, but I remember sitting on my dad's shoulders watching as a helicopter landed at the big house over the fence at the end of the road.

"I remember saying one day I wanted one of those. I've worked hard for it all my life, building the business, and I was finally able to afford my first helicopter five years ago.

"I still remember the attitudes when I was at school, when business was a dirty word. I want to do everything I can to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs, which is why I allowed myself to be nominated for the Ernst & Young Award in the first place."

That negative attitude to business didn't slow down Richard Harpin. At 15, he started tying and selling fishing flies to local tackle shops before realising he could make more money by buying in raw materials from India and Africa with £100 he had saved up and selling them by mail-order.

"I tied the flies but I never fished - I didn't have the patience," he says. "I'm more into water-skiing, flying helicopters and heli-skiing.

By the time he was 20 he had five successful businesses under his belt and went on to work for major names like Proctor & Gamble and Deloitte before setting up as a business consultant.

It was in that role he was offered six weeks work in 1992 by South Staffordshire Water, to look into setting up a plumbing service for customers.

He came up with the idea of running it like the AA: charging a basic membership fee to cover plumbing or wiring insurance repairs around the house. Recruited to run the new Home Service department in return for a 48 per cent stake in it, he had three staff and £100,000.

It nearly all ended after the first year, when the fledgling business lost £500,000. But Mr Harpin was convinced the business would work and increased efforts to sign up more members.

South Staffordshire Water stuck with it, and the following year the business made a £750,000.

"I had set a target of making £1 million profit in five years - instead we made £7 million," he recalls. "After 15 years we hit the £100 million operating profit mark, but I have to say it was a lot harder making the first £1 million than the first £100 million."

By 2004 the Homeserve business had grown to dwarf the water company and was split into a separate business with Richard Harpin as chief executive.

Homeserve has taken its membership insurance idea international, with operations in France, Spain and the USA, and last week it declared overall pre-tax profits up 13 per cent to £96.1 million with policies now covering 55 million households, 23.4 million of them in the UK.

Now 45, Mr Harpin has seen Homeserve grow to employ 1,200 people at Green Lane in Walsall. A recent surge in its share price means the company is now worth around £900 million - and 17 per cent of that belongs to Richard Harpin, who invested in the business from its early days.

Despite his success he has stuck to his roots, still living in Yorkshire with his wife and three young children, aged four, seven and eight years.

It means an early start, picked up by his chauffeur at 5.30am for an hour's paperwork in the back of the car before stopping for an hour at a gym in Lichfield - arriving for work in Walsall at 7.30am. A packed day running the fast-expanding business ends with a 45-minute flight home by helicopter - with Richard at the controls.

"I spend an increasing amount of time abroad, in Europe or the US, but I try to get home for bathtime at 6.15pm at least a couple of times a week," he says. "Although my wife would probably tell you I don't make it as often as I think I do."