Charles Dunstone

After leaving Uppingham School, where he had set up his first entrepreneurial venture selling pens and cigarette lighters, Charles Dunstone took a job with Japanese electronics giant NEC rather than go to university. In 1989, using £6,000 of savings, he opened his first Carphone Warehouse shop in Marylebone, London, with the idea of opening up the fledging mobile phone market to individual tradespeople. In 2008, Best Buy acquired 50per cent of CPW's European and retail interests. Charles is also chairman of Talk, Talk, the Prince's Trust and non-executive directpr of the Daily Mail and General Trust.