Tycoon Sir Tom Hunter goes back to classroom

HE MAY be in a class of his own when it comes to business acumen but Sir Tom Hunter is heading back to school.Scotland’s first home-grown billionaire has revealed he will return to his old university – Strathclyde – as a lecturer in entrepreneurship.

The 50-year-old businessman believes the low-profile role will be more effective in nurturing the tycoons of tomorrow than TV shows such as Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice.

Hunter, who rarely makes TV appearances, has also criticised fellow Scottish entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne and the other Dragons for making fun of contestants and leaving them humiliated.

He says he is keen to pass on lessons from his own career, which took him from selling trainers from the back of a van – while studying economics and marketing at Strathclyde University in the early 1980s – to being named as Scotland’s richest man. He has already undergone a teaching course to prepare him for his new role and intends offering his services for free on a regular basis.

The businessman, who sold his Sports Division empire for £290 million in 1998, said: “I’ve been thinking about teaching for a long time now and now I’m finally going to get round to it.

“I think if anyone can impart their knowledge to people who are coming through, that’s a great thing.

“Hopefully I can tell the students at Strathclyde about the things that have helped me along the way, as well as warning them about some pitfalls to avoid.”

The class-of-1983 graduate is heartened that business has become a fashionable subject for students, but it less enthusiastic about the impact of reality TV shows.

Hunter said: “Dragons’ Den is not my style. I find it cringe-worthy to see people who are trying their best getting ripped to shreds for the sake of entertainment. I know it’s a popular show, but I’m just not into ripping the p**s out of people.

“I would rather encourage them and say, ‘Look, here’s where you are going wrong’.”

In preparation for life as an academic the Ayrshire-born philanthropist attended and successfully completed a teaching course at the University of California’s prestigious Berkeley campus.

He said: “Obviously, I know my subject matter, but that’s not entirely what it is all about when it comes to teaching. I need to get myself ready to understand how to teach.

“I need to make sure that I’m getting the stuff across to the students.”

The former sportswear magnate added: “When I have given lectures in the past it isn’t a one-way thing. The students give you ideas back and take you in different directions.”

The founder of The Hunter Foundation, which has donated tens of millions to charitable causes in the UK and overseas, admitted he was far from a model academic during his first spell at university.

He said: “I seemed to spend more time coming up with business ideas and putting them into practice than I did sitting in classrooms.

“I was out on the streets selling hamburgers as well as shoes and slippers. Despite that, I got through my studies. It wasn’t too taxing.”

Hunter believes students should seek to balance their academic skills with practical business experience.

He said: “It’s good to do as much research as you can, but sometimes you just have to get started and learn as you go. When I was at university I was always looking at the lecturers and saying to myself ‘Well, what are your credentials?’”

Sir Tom, who donated £5m to establish the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde in 2000, hopes to start lecturing in the new year, stating: “I want it to be quite a regular thing, rather than a one-off.”

A spokesman for Strathclyde University confirmed the new appointment and said: “We are delighted that Scotland’s best-known entrepreneur, Sir Tom Hunter, wants to join the university as a lecturer. Our student recruitment team had better brace itself for a stampede.”

Stepping up to the lectern is a brave choice for the business mogul. In 2009, he called for Scottish teachers and lecturers to have their pay linked to students’ exam results and to face the sack for poor performance.

He wrote: “Great teachers would rise or fall on performance as judged by their customers and independent analysis.”

Hunter has declared he wants to give away his entire fortune before he dies, taking his inspiration from Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie who stated in a 1901 essay: “The man who dies rich, dies in disgrace.”

Hunter was ranked as a billionaire in the Rich List but is believed to have lost at least £250m during the recession.