At number four on the City & Guilds Vocational Rich List, entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthew’s £950 million fortune began with an engineering apprenticeship at the Post Office research department at the tender age of 15.
Since then the Welsh tycoon has made his fortune in Canada with telecom company Mitel and then, more significantly, with Newbridge Networks. Newbridge Networks floated in 1989 and was sold to French telecom giant Alcatel in 2000 for £4.4 billion.
In addition to his passion for technology, over the years Sir Terry has cultivated a love of golf, which in 2010 means the Golf’s Ryder Cup will come to Sir Terry Matthews’ Celtic Manor resort. It will be the biggest sporting event in Welsh history with 50,000 daily spectators attending the three day event. In the last year Matthews has spent £125 million transforming what was a derelict maternity hospital into a five star complex.
