Theo Phanos, director of Trafalger Asset Management and profiled in the UK section of Greek Rich List magazine – told the Cyprus Weekly last week that Cyprus has a good chance of getting a slice of the investment fund management pie, provided it moves ahead with intense marketing abroad.

Photo by Stefanos Kouratzis

In an interview with the Cyprus Weekly he said “Cyprus could get some market share of the investment fund management industry without a doubt Malta has achieved that. I think Cyprus should be in a much stronger position.

“It will take a long time before we can compete with Ireland and Luxembourg because they have been doing this for 20 years, but I think it’s feasible,” said Theo, director of Trafalgar Asset
Managers.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a round table discussion in Nicosia on the prospects of Cyprus as an investment fund management centre, organised by the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA).

“Cyprus has to do a lot of marketing. Other countries who are trying to achieve the same, such as Luxembourg, Ireland and Malta are very proactive in sending delegations to locations like London and elsewhere.

Cyprus needs to explain the infrastructure it offers, the benefits, different permits and the various elements that go towards establishing a fund management business.”

He believes Cyprus has the infrastructure, but it is a matter of bringing it together and doing a lot of marketing “and doing it quickly because this is an important time for the fund management industry with a new EU directive that is being voted on in Parliament at this time.”

The discussion dealt with asset management broadly and a number of speakers identified some sub-sectors of asset management that would be suitable for Cyprus, he added.

“Sub-sectors such as the domiciling of funds, the custody of funds, the administration of funds, rather than the actual management of the funds themselves which is a very difficult objective to achieve.

“That would probably continue to take place in bigger countries like the UK, France and Germany. But the domicile can be in Cyprus rather than Ireland, Luxembourg and other locations.”

Phanos believes that Cyprus needs to have clear objectives and to communicate what’s available to foreign investors and foreign fund management companies.

“Most of the elements are in place in Cyprus and there can be certain refinements, maybe to taxation and to obtaining approvals and so on. I think there can be some changes, which are not that difficult, and beyond that it’s actually communicating to people that Cyprus actually offers these possibilities for domicile administration and so on.

“To a large extent, it’s a communication exercise and clearly to communicate well you need to have the resources, empower people and spend money.”

“I think Cyprus has done very well in other areas as an offshore business centre, as it focused on certain target markets like Russian businesses and Greek businesses which were low-hanging fruit for Cyprus.

“It was easy to get the offshore business. Now, the next target is a tougher project. It means competing with Malta, Luxembourg, Ireland and other locations for the domicile administration of fund management businesses.

“It is tougher and I think the focus has been elsewhere over the years,” he said.

Source: Demetra Molyva, The Cyprus Weekly

British Cypriot Chris Lazari, reveals the secret of his success.

London based Cypriot property tycoon Chris Lazari, whose assets include prize buildings in the West End, espouses the philosophy that life grants nothing without hard work. “Work is the vehicle to success. Money is just another token of your success. Hard work involves a clear, analytical and critical mind so that the right decisions are made,” he told The Cyprus Weekly.

This probably means long hours. “The more I want to do something the less I call it hard work… I have to be in the driver’s seat. I think it was Forbes who once said: “If you don’t drive your business you will be driven out of business. I am not afraid of hard work,” the 64 year old millionaire said. And he added: “Business opportunities are normally disguised as hard work and they will not be discovered through laziness.”

His track record suggests a flair for doing exactly that. Ranked 5th richest Greek in the UK by Greek Rich List magazine and the 125th richest British man in the Sunday Times Rich List 2010, Lazaris net assets are estimated at €522m. The total fixed and current assets of his company for y/e March 31, 2010, were €1,382,964,264. Pretax profits were €41,438,456 the same year.

“Let me use another quote I read somewhere: “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. It is no secret that I have worked and still work hard in my life, but it is obvious that hard work must be accompanied by knowledge and clear judgment.

“I think a lot, I consider all factors and then I reach a decision. “I have always been ready and willing to learn to learn more and more. This knowledge has helped me to identify the right opportunities and make viable and profitable acquisitions.”

For Dhora-born Lazari, success is the reward of his hard work and the ammunition for further conquests. “I love challenges. Even if they are not there I set my own challenges and I make sure everybody in my workforce have their own. I have always been a “hands-onmanager”. “I like to know everything that happens in my company however small or insignificant.

The road to the top is hard and difficult but the way down is a lot easier. It is hard to build a successful business but it’s so easy to destroy it if you are not careful.” He is grateful for what he has achieved so far and with his three children in his business now, his only plans are to see them achieving more and to be there for them for as long as he can.

“I have no intention of retiring,” he says. “Family for me means a lot more than money. If money is only a token of success, in one’s work, then a good happy family is the token of success in one’s life,” says Lazari, who has two sons, one daughter and seven “wonderful grandchildren.”

Describing himself as a simple man at heart, he is grateful for having true and real friends. “Some of them are people I met many years ago when we were struggling together to
survive in those first hard years of coming to Britain. “We may have followed different directions in life but our friendship survived and we are always there for each other.

“I am a simple man at heart because simple things in life give me much more pleasure than luxuries. “In my life ‘I walk with the kings and mix with the crowds’ as they say. But I get more pleasure from the simple people of the crowds. A business meal at a top class London restaurant is a business obligation. “Having a meze at a local taverna and a zivania with old friends, that is a choice,” he said.

Staying true to Cyprus

Born in Dhora village in the Limassol district, Lazari left Cyprus at the age of 16, when he discovered that his ‘parents’ were actually his foster parents.

“I was in my third year at the Lanition Gymnasium of Limassol. “I boarded the MV Messapia and sailed to England. The rest is history,” he said.

Although he has spent most of his life in the UK and visits Cyprus only for a holiday and to see family and friends, his village and Cyprus are always in his mind. “I love the place and adore the people,” he says.

His ultimate dream now is to see Cyprus reunited. “I have no dreams with regards to my work because work is reality and I take full responsibility for the results. “Unfortunately, when it
comes to Cyprus we can only dream because we are in the hands of the strong and powerful.”

He admits his marriage 44 years ago to Maritsa was “the best transaction I have ever made.”

Source: Demetra Molyva, The Cyprus Weekly

Times may be tough for book sellers, but for Stephen King, James Patterson and Stephenie Meyer, the money keeps rolling in.

James Patterson, Over the past two years he has made some $500 million for Hachette, his publisher.

Publishers are feeling the heat, with hardcover sales weak and the rise of e-books promising to upend their business models. But the world’s 10 top-earning authors are making out just fine, earning a combined $270 million over the 12 months to June 1.

James Patterson’s $70 million in earnings vaults him to No. 1 on our list, up from second place two years ago. The prolific thriller writer’s latest deal, signed last fall, involves penning a carpal tunnel-risking 17 books by the end of 2012 for an estimated $100 million.

Patterson’s literary empire includes television, comic book and gaming deals. His foreign sales alone bring in well over $10 million a year. Patterson’s e-books are posting respectable numbers, too. I, Alex Cross alone has sold 160,000 units digitally. Ironic, given that there’s no computer in his home office–Patterson writes all his novels in longhand. To date he has published 51 New York Times best sellers.

Vampire romance author Stephenie Meyer ranks second this year. Her Twilight series has become such a juggernaut that despite not releasing a new title in 2009, she earned $40 million over the year. About $7 million of that came from movies adapted from the Twilight series. In June the third Twilight installment pulled in $175 million in its first six days, the most successful first week of any movie of 2010.

The bad climate for brick and mortar bookselling hasn’t hurt prolific horror maven Stephen King, either, who placed third on our list with a take of $34 million, $8 million of which we estimate came from backlist sales. His 51st novel, Under the Dome, was released in November, selling 600,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. It was optioned by DreamWorks TV.

King is prolific, and not just in books: A recent profile noted that over the course of a few weeks this year he had a story published in the New Yorker, a review of a Raymond Carver biography in the New York Review of Books, an article in the horror magazine Fangoria and a poem in Playboy.

No. 4 on our list is romance novelist Danielle Steel, who earned $32 million over the past year. That includes a reported $1 million settlement from her former assistant, who was convicted of embezzling $760,000 from the romance novelist. Steel is embracing the e-book revolution–she recently announced that all 71 of her books would be digitally released on Amazon.com

British writer Ken Follett’s scorching suspense novels land him at No. 5 on our list with $20 million. When The Times of London recently asked its readers to vote for the greatest novels of the last 60 years, Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth came in at No. 2 (just behind To Kill a Mockingbird). A $40 million, eight-hour miniseries based on the book premiered in the U.S. in July.

Source: Dirk Smillie, Forbes.com

Their business brains earned them a fortune – all before they were 21. Most teenagers dream of coming up with an idea that will make them a million by the age of 21, but only a lucky few will actually achieve such success.

Here, we take a look at some of the world’s most enterprising youngsters, many of whom started their companies in their bedrooms, only to go on to build multi-million pound business empires.

Some, like Facebook-founder Mark Zuckerberg are now household names, but other young achievers are less well-known. From selling spectacles to building websites for ‘tweens’, we reveal how they made their money…

____________________________

Image: Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

1. Mark Zuckerberg made his name as one of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs after launching the social networking site Facebook from his Harvard dormitory six years ago. He began developing computer programs while he was still at school. Initially, Facebook was only launched for Harvard students, but it wasn’t long before the site became a global phenomenon. Now aged 26, Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in the world, with a net worth of $10 billion (£6.4 billion) in 2010. A film based on his life and the setting up of Facebook is due to be released in October this year. Employers no doubt curse the day Zuckerberg had his brainwave – recent research suggests that companies lose around £14 billion a year as workers spend office hours trawling social networking sites.

____________________________

Image: David Livingstone - Getty Images

2. Fraser Doherty is one of the few young entrepreneurs who doesn’t owe his success to the internet. After his grandmother taught him her secret jam recipe at the age of 14, he launched SuperJam, a range of ‘100% fruit jams’. The jam is supplied to over 1,000 supermarket stores nationwide, including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose. He also runs a charitable project, arranging tea parties for lonely elderly people who are housebound or in care. The SuperJam business, which sells over 500,000 jars a year, is estimated to be worth well over £1 million. Some might say he’s been jammy.

____________________________

Image: David Livingstone - Getty Images

3. Doctor Farrah Gray is the youngest child of a single parent family and grew up in the impoverished south side of Chicago. He started work at the age of six, selling home-made body lotions and his own hand-painted rocks as book ends. At the age of 14, he became a self-made millionaire having founded and operated several business ventures, including KIDZTEL pre-paid telephone cards and an interactive teen talk show. He is a best-selling author and chief executive of Farrah Gray Publishing, receiving an honorary doctorate degree of human letters from Allen University at the age of 21.

____________________________

Image: Murphx

4. Carl Churchill, often referred to as the British Bill Gates, Churchill started his career as a web designer at the age of 12. His first companies – Bits New Media and Bits and PCs – were launched while he was still at school. At the age of 19, he was making more than £1 million from his next company DMC Internet. Since then he has led several successful computer and internet companies. Rich List guru Philip Beresford has suggested that Churchill will be worth £100 million by 2020. He is currently a director at Murphx, which provides internet connection services for companies including the BBC.

____________________________

Image: Myung Jung Kim - PA

5.  Adam Hildreth (pictured second left) was just 14 when he started Dubit Limited along with his fellow directors – all of whom were still teens. Dubit became one of the biggest social-networking websites for teens in the UK. Aged 19, he was worth £2 million, according to the 2004 UK top 20 Richest Teens list. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List ranked Hildreth as 23rd in the 100 richest young people in the UK, based on a valuation of £25 million. Hildreth’s latest enterprise is Crisp Thinking, which develops software to help children and teenagers surf the internet safely.
____________________________

Image: Miss O

6. Juliette Brindak – not many 20-year-olds are able to boast that they are worth more than $15 million (£9.6 million), but thanks to her website MissOandFriends.com, Juliette Brindak can. Brindak came up with the idea for the site, which targets ‘tween’ girls – too old for dolls but too young for teen idols such as Britney Spears – when she was just 10. Her mother, an art director and illustrator, worked with her to develop the ‘Miss O’ characters. Her first book was published at the age of just 16, selling more than 120,000 copies. She is currently a student at Washington University in St Louis.

____________________________

Image: Jagex

7. Andrew Gower was a student at Cambridge University when he came up with the massively successful online computer game RuneScape. He started creating computer games at the age of seven, coming up with a 3D game called Parallax Painter for the Atari ST as a teenager. He then began trading as Jagex, launching a series of internet-based video games between 1996 until 1999, before creating the hugely popular RuneScape game at the age of 20. In 2009, the Sunday Times listed Andrew and his brother Paul as the 566th richest men in the UK, worth an estimated £99 million.

____________________________

Image: Indigo - Getty Images

8. James Murray Wells spotting a gap in the market, set up Glasses Direct – an online retailer selling spectacles – while he was still at university. The site, which he funded using £1,000 of his student loan, sold 22,000 pairs of glasses in its first year alone and had an annual turnover of £1 million. In 2007, venture capitalists provided £3 million funding. In February this year, he set up hearingdirect.com, selling digital hearing aids online. When starting Glasses Direct, Murray Wells adopted a dog called Sapphie as an office mascot, later naming a pair of glasses frames after her.

Source: msn money

He has vowed that he will not stop building the business he established only a year ago until it is worth £100m.

But hard-working Christian Owens can afford to pause for at least a moment’s celebration after making his first £1m aged just 16.

The schoolboy entrepreneur used his pocket money to fund his first venture, website Mac Box Bundle, at just 14 – which has taken £700,000 since its launch in 2008.

He then launched advertising pay-per-click company ‘Branchr’ a year later and worked on the business after school and at weekends.

Branchr was a smash hit with internet sites, made a staggering £500,000 in its first year, and now counts betting site William Hill as a client. That is despite the fact that Christian is too young to place a bet there.

Social networking site MySpace has also benefited from his company’s services.

Christian, from Corby, Northamptonshire, currently employs eight staff – all adults – around the UK and America as sales and technical assistants, and plans to open two Branchr offices in the next year.

The youngster, who lives with his parents, company secretary Alison, 43, and factory worker Julian, 50, said he was inspired to go into business after observing the immense success achieved by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

Christian invests the majority of his earnings back into his two businesses.

He said: ‘I really wanted to create something groundbreaking and simple that would revolutionise the way advertising works.

‘Mac Box Bundle was already becoming a success but I really wanted to push myself and do something different, so I came up with the idea of Branchr.

‘I think everyone has business sense in them, they just need to gain experience and be determined to make it.

‘There is no magical formula to business – it takes hard work, determination and the drive to do something great.

‘My aim is to become a leading name in the world of internet and mobile advertising and push myself right to the top of the game.

‘I don’t know where I will be in ten years’ time but I won’t leave Branchr until it has reached £100m,’ he added.

The teenager insists his professional success has not affected his personal life, and says his interests include photography and playing the guitar.

‘My friends and I don’t really talk about my success. To them I’m just a normal teenager and it doesn’t change anything between us.’

Christian, who has used a computer since the age of seven, began teaching himself basic web design aged ten when he was given his first Mac computer.

Branchr works as a platform for website owners to sell advertising, and business owners to buy it.

The company now sells more than 250m adverts to 11,000 websites every month and has acquired a second company, Atomplan, which provides business software.

Mac Box Bundle sells a combination of popular Mac applications, worth up to $400 together for under $100 a time – and donates 10% of each bundle to charity.

Source: Daily Mail / This is Money