Ben Francis, the 33-year-old founder of Gymshark, has been named the West Midlands' richest person aged under 40, with an estimated personal wealth of £800m. The Solihull-based entrepreneur, who started his business from his parents' garage in 2012, was ranked 10th in the region's rich list.
Francis built Gymshark from a side project into a global sportswear company after starting it at 19 while studying by day and working for Pizza Hut at night. By 2020, the company was valued at more than £1bn, and Francis told the that year he was worth a "frightening" amount.
The latest ranking, reported on the basis of The Sunday Times Rich List, puts Francis in a category of his own among younger wealth holders in the West Midlands. He is the only under-40-year-old to appear in the region's top 10, a list topped by Lord Bamford and his family, with a combined fortune of more than £10bn. Behind them were Denise, John and Peter Coates, whose wealth from gambling giant Bet365 came in at just shy of £10bn.
Francis, who is from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, remains the most prominent homegrown name in the upper reaches of the regional list. His rise also underscores how far Gymshark has come since its early days, when Francis was balancing work and study as he tried to get the company off the ground.
The broader rich list also reflects a shifting picture at the top end of British wealth. Robert Watts said: "This year's Rich List is a tale of two exoduses. One in six of the individuals and families who appeared on the list two years ago don't feature this time." He added that many foreign billionaires who had been living in the UK had moved away, and that there had been a sharp rise in British nationals now resident in Dubai, Switzerland and Monaco.
Watts also raised the question of whether the trend will change the way wealth is built and taxed in Britain. "Will more of the wealthy now set up or grow their ventures overseas and in doing so create fewer jobs here?" he asked. "How much tax - if any - will Rachel Reeves' treasury be able to extract from those affluent Brits who have now left the country?"
For Francis, though, the immediate significance is simpler: at 33, he is now one of the West Midlands' richest people, and the only one under 40 in the region's top tier. That is a striking milestone for someone who began with little more than a garage, a night shift and an idea that grew into a company valued at more than £1bn.
