The godfather of modern entrepreneurial spirit was in South Africa recently to announce the ex-pansion of the Virgin Active business across the

country, and into new previously untapped markets. In a briefing presented at the vibey and funky Virgin Active Boulders, Midrand branch, Branson, along with South African Virgin Active Managing Director Ross Faragher-Thomas, announced plans to open eight new clubs in the country, including its first branch in Soweto, as well as a Classic Club branch in Durban, as part of the Moses Mabhida Stadium sport and enter-tainment hub. Faragher-Thomas added that “(the club’s expansion) enables us to cater to a growing potential group of members. (Virgin Active) continues to inno-vate, offer superb service and provide unparalleled

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value for money to customers who have been part of a health club before”.

It’s been 10 years since former President Nelson Mandela personally asked Branson to step in and save the ailing Health & Racquet franchise, along with thousands of its employees. Taking on the 76 existing clubs, the Virgin Group invested over a billion rand in the upgrade of clubs and a massive rebranding exercise that, by 2010, opened 24 addi-tional branches and grew its revenue by 650%, as well as increased membership by 200%. Branson says, “Virgin Active South Africa has been one of our best performing companies, and we continue to look for opportunities to expand this business and bring its unique style to many more people”.

by CD Anderson

Whenever businessman-philanthropist-adventurer Sir Richard Branson is in town, one can expect that something special is about to happen. And none more so than when it involves his South African flagship brand, the Virgin Active Health Club group.

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The amicable Branson, who causes excitement in even the most hardened of admiring business-people wherever he goes, has an obvious love for South Africa, and particularly, its people and recog-nises their enthusiasm for the entrepreneurial spirit

The amicable Branson, who causes excitement in even the most hardened of admiring businesspeople wherever he goes, has an obvious love for South Africa, and particularly, its people and recognises their enthusiasm for the entrepreneurial spirit.

as equal, if not more so, to his own. Surrounded by smiling Virgin Active staff, Branson professed in his usual jovial manner that the Virgin brand is not about doing things by the book, but creating an environment where individualism is encouraged and new, fresh ideas can be explored unabated.

Also announced was the roll-out of a new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSI) initiative, which together with the Western Cape Provincial Government, will partner the various Virgin Active clubs in the province with lo-cal high schools, offering training, advice and support, in an effort to promote healthy lifestyles amongst the youth. The project, to be launched later this year, will hopefully pilot successfully for an extensive expan-sion for the rest of the country. Branson was also in Johannesburg to stir up some excitement at his Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, where burgeoning young South African businesspeople are offered the oppor-tunity to learn the Branson methods of creating and strengthening businesses. He brought along some of the leading entrepreneurial minds from the United Kingdom and United States in a gesture that will see a cementing of relationships between students of his unique brand of business savvy, and an exchange of new innovative ideas.

Despite these important announcements, in-evitably the press conference focused on the Virgin Group’s other, more ambitious ventures, and the ad-ventures of the man himself. Branson reported that the much publicised Virgin space travel programme

was on track. As an avid Trekkie himself, he admit-ted that the way things were progressing were get-ting him quite excited about the possibilities of space travel for the average earthling over the next 10 to 20 years. More down-to-earth Virgin endeavours such as Virgin Hotels and its Mobile and Financial subsidiaries, Branson says, are in good shape despite the global economic downturn, a fact he attributes to the company’s adaptability and focus on attract-ing new diverse markets. He also hinted at plans to introduce Virgin Hotels to South Africa, but would not be drawn out on the details. Instead, the larger-than-life, yet still humanly humble businessman re-directed the discussion to why he believes in South Africa, “South Africa is moving forward at a rapid pace and, as an outsider, I would tell my friends that their money is safe here,” he smiles.

It is often said of Sir Richard Branson that his bra-zen and media-savvy style of doing business has got him into more trouble than not, but as any entrepre-neur will counter, if one is to succeed and sustain in business at all, one needs to play to and understand all the aspects of the marketing game, as Branson epito-mises with a strong character and effective skill. One can be quite glad that he’s on South Africa’s team.