Robert Armour talks to Sir Tom Hunter about how he made his millions and how he wants to give more to charities

In 2007 Sir Tom Hunter was revealed in the Sunday Times Rich List as Scotland’s first ever home-grown billionaire with his investment firm, West Coast Capital, hailed as the country’s greatest business success. Just a year later, that status crashed along with much of the country’s wealth as the credit crunch plunged the world into crisis.

Not many people have lost hundreds of millions. But to readily admit that they made a mistake takes more than a bit of humility. New Cumnock born and bred Sir Tom is blunt about what happened when the world’s markets crashed in 2008. “I got it wrong,” he says, candidly. “I did not see the financial crisis coming; that was my mistake. We were overreaching, had too many investments and I got it wrong.”

Shortly before disaster struck, Sir Tom had pledged to give £1 billion away to good causes. While that might be still on hold, it takes more than near financial ruin to put off a determined entrepreneur. Which is why as I talk to Sir Tom, it is against a giant improvised “7” made especially for a photoshoot to celebrate the number of millions Kiltwalk has raised for charities this year, 40% of which has been donated by the businessman’s own charity, the Hunter Foundation.

Kiltwalk is now the country’s biggest mass participation event – it was recently named as the UK’s fifth biggest mass participation fundraiser – thanks to Sir Tom using his business acumen to turn it round from a failing governance disaster into a huge PR success.

With 25,000 walkers taking part across all four main events, a huge 25% increase on 2018’s 20,000 walkers, 2019 was the biggest year for Kiltwalk to date.

Now his message is that the Kiltwalk is giving away free money – charities taking part not only get sponsorship but an extra 40% from Sir Tom’s Hunter Foundation. But surely there’s a catch? “Not at all, in fact we want to give away more,” says Sir Tom. “You can see how Kiltwalk has captured the hearts of a nation, from kids to grandparents, but the serious side is it helps these charities change people’s lives for the better. The foundation wants to nurture that – to invest in Scottish charities and promote what they do. The more money we give away, the more good work is being done.”

Selling such a good cause must seem easy to a man who first started selling from the back of a van before building Sports Division into one of the UK’s biggest retailers with some 250 stores and more than 7,000 employees. He sold the business in 1998 for £290 million, his own stake estimated at £260m. The same year, with his wife Marion, he set up the Hunter Foundation to manage what he calls his venture philanthropy.

Until very recently, charities played very awkward bedfellows with business. The third sector saw itself as uniquely different, even opposed, to values of capitalism. Not so now. Fusing business acumen with social justice means all can profit. So while business gets the kudos, charities get the cash. To this end, Sir Tom has joined the Giving Pledge to take this notion further. Created by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet, it is a network of the world’s seriously wealthy who have decided to give their money to charity.

The pledge is based on Scots industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s adage that “a man who dies rich dies disgraced.” So while making money might be Sir Tom’s legal high, giving it away now seems every bit as exciting.

The problem is, making cash is a full time job – as is the Kiltwalk – so can Sir Tom keep involved at the same level? “Everything is hard work,” he shrugs. “And if something is worth it, then you just become more determined. No, there are no plans for any of us to ease up with the Kiltwalk. We want to see it get bigger and better, get more charities involved and more walkers taking part. Each year we see it being more successful and there’s probably no limit as to how successful it can be. Why should there be?”