Gary Millar is not an easy man to pigeonhole. His first job was as a message boy for the owner of a pram shop; her only previous message boy was Sean Connery. His first business was selling stair treads, from which he moved on to start his own computing business, buy Liverpool’s famous Parr Street recording studios and establish a boutique hotel. His next venture is providing financial backing for small businesses in Liverpool.
He can, it seems, turn his hand to almost anything. ‘I think entrepreneurs are people who spot opportunities, are very single minded, and often don’t comfortably delegate,’ he says. ‘My attention to detail is OK, but it’s not a passion.
Born in a tenement building in Edinburgh in 1959, Gary was fostered between the ages of four and ten, moving school eight times in his formative years. ‘I went to good schools,’ he says, ‘just a lot of them. I wasn’t a settled child, and I wasn’t bright at all. I was picked on because I was always the new boy, mentally rather than physically. But I never had time to settle down and make friends.’
‘If you have a dream you can action it. Circumstances can stop you, but there’s no reason why anyone can’t do what they want to. I think being working class makes you more competitive. You will take risks; it’s worth taking risks. You have less to lose in the first place.’
Gone are the days when his ambitions were a better house, car and holidays. ‘I’m more interested in giving people a chance to better their lives. I really believe in the concept of paying it forward – the idea that if you help somebody out, then they can help the next person...............
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