One wonders what’s more challenging: running a globally famous football team or starting a car company from scratch. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s second richest man (net worth – an estimated £13bn), is currently tackling both, overhauling Manchester United while grappling with supply chain issues in the manufacture of the bluff Grenadier off-roader. This is a car which has a cliff-face aesthetic matched by an ability to actually drive off one more or less unscathed.
It’s serious test of commitment for this self-styled adventurer. Say what you like, but Ratcliffe walks it like he talks it — which is to say purposefully. INEOS, just to remind you, is the world’s third largest chemicals company, employs more than 26,000 people across 36 separate businesses, and has 194 manufacturing facilities in 29 countries. The brand is a key player in Formula One, as one-third owner of the Mercedes-AMG F1 team, and has interests in cycling and the America’s Cup. Ratcliffe clearly has rather a lot in his purview but has found time to sail his own boat through the notorious Northwest Passage, ride a motorbike along the spine of the Andes, climb the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, and trek across both the North and South Pole. “Have I ever experienced fear?” he told me recently. “A few times, yes.”
