Simon Dolan

Simon Dolan (born 20 May 1969[1]) is a British businessman and entrepreneur.

Simon Dolan
Born (1969-05-20) 20 May 1969
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forInvestments, films and race driver
Net worth GB£200 million (Sunday Times Rich List, 2020

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2020, Dolan is worth £200 million.[2]

Career

Businesses and investments

Dolan's first major business was SJD Accountancy, which was among the first accounting firms to offer a money back guarantee.[3] It is the only accounting firm in the UK top 100 owned by an individual rather than a partnership.[4] In 1999 Dolan also set up Contractor Umbrella Ltd. SJD Accountancy was acquired in 2014 along with accounting practice Nixon Williams by Sovereign Capital for over £100m .[5]

Dolan began investing in new start-up companies via Twitter in 2010, initially offering a £5 million investment pot for successful business pitches on the social networking site, earning himself the nickname "Twitter Dragon".[4][6] Dolan's investments via Twitter have included Global Moguls,[7] and mental health magazine Uncovered.[8]

Outside of the accountancy and contractor industries, his investments include PHA Group Ltd, Oneserve, Jota Aviation, BajaBoard, Coast Autonomous and Jota Sport.[9] His most recent investment in March 2019 was in Snag Tights.

Mandalay Estate, Mustique

In June 2014 Dolan bought Mandalay Estate on the West Indian island of Mustique.[10] Once owned by English rock legend David Bowie who had the villa built in 1989,[11] the estate had previously been owned by Felix Dennis who died in June 2014.[12]

Dolan Accountancy

After selling SJD Accountancy for £67m in 2014, Dolan re-entered the contractor accountancy market on 18 September 2017 with the launch of Dolan Accountancy. In 2019 Dolan Contractor Group was established to include Contractor Umbrella.[13]

COVID-19 judicial review action

On 1 May 2020, Dolan started proceedings to challenge the British Government's lockdown decision, suggesting the Government had acted illegally and disproportionately over the COVID-19 lockdown.[14] A crowdfunded campaign to fund the proposed action has so far raised over £170,000 with over 5000 people contributing [15]. On 8 June Dolan also issued proceedings against the quarantine rules affecting visitors coming into the UK. The case is expected to be heard in full and completed by the end of June 2020.

Publications

Dolan's autobiography How To Make Millions Without A Degree: And How to Get by Even If You Have One was published in 2010.[16] It tells the story of how he built his empire after leaving school at 15.[17] In the book, Dolan offers advice to business owners and those considering starting their own business instead of going to university.[18][19]

Motor racing
Main article: Jota Sport

Dolan's interest in motor racing began in March 2007 before creating his own racing team, Jota Sport, in 2008. In 2010 Jota Sport signed a multi-year agreement to become an Aston Martin official partner team in motorsports.[20] Jota initially competed in an Aston Martin V8 Vantage at the 2010 24 Hours of Spa where the team won their class.[21] Dolan and co-driver Sam Hancock participated in the VdeV series with a best finish of third at Circuit Paul Ricard. Dolan made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011.

Dolan's career highlight was 1st place in the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2014 with Harry Tincknell and Oliver Turvey, who replaced Marc Gené after he was recalled to Team Joest Audi Sport LMP1 team following an accident in practice for Loic Duval.[22]

Following a landmark sponsorship deal with Russian energy company Gazprom, the team competed as G-Drive Racing for the 2016 European Le Mans Series following a transfer of naming rights.[23] Racing in a Gibson 015S, Dolan and G-Drive's season got underway at Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom, in April, where they recorded their opening win of the season in the LMP2 category.[24] The victory was followed up with a runners-up finish at the following race at Imola, in May 2016. The team's good performance continued throughout the season and was capped with a victory in the final race of the season at Estoril, in Portugal. The victory secured the 2016 European Le Mans Series title for G-Drive Racing. Dolan topped the Drivers' classification alongside team mates Giedo Van Der Garde and Harry Tincknell, all securing 105 points.[25]

Journey to Le Mans
Main article: Journey to Le Mans

Dolan was the focus of a 2014 British documentary, directed by Charlotte Fantelli, that followed Jota Sport on their quest to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 category in 2014. The film followed Dolan and his Jota Sport team mates and captured the highs and lows the team encountered on their way to victory. Journey to Le Mans was released in a number of cinemas across the United Kingdom in October 2014, and released on DVD in November 2014.

Racing results

24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2011 Jota Sam Hancock
Chris Buncombe		 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 GTE
Pro		 74 DNF DNF
2012 Jota Sam Hancock
Haruki Kurosawa		 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 271 DNF DNF
2013 Jota Sport Oliver Turvey
Lucas Luhr		 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 319 13th 7th
2014 Jota Sport Oliver Turvey
Harry Tincknell		 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 356 5th 1st
2015 Jota Sport Oliver Turvey
Mitch Evans		 Gibson 015S-Nissan LMP2 358 10th 2nd
2016 G-Drive Racing Jake Dennis
Giedo van der Garde		 Gibson 015S-Nissan LMP2 222 DNF DNF

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points
2016 G-Drive Racing LMP2 Gibson 015S Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL
1		 IMO
2		 RBR
3		 LEC
5		 SPA
5		 EST
1		 1st 103

References
  1. "Simon Dolan GT2 European Cup Driver Bio".
  2. "Sunday Times Rich List 2020".
  3. Keeping it simple, Best Practice Magazine, December 2007
  4. Kaffash, Jaimie (31 August 2011). "Simon says reform the partnership model". Accountancy Age. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  5. Reed, Kevin (22 September 2014). "£100m private equity deal creates new accounting group". Accountancy Age.
  6. "Investors use Twitter to inject cash=this is money.co.uk". 5 July 2010.
  7. Hurley, James (14 June 2010). "Successful business pitches via twitter get 800k investment". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  8. "Uncovered magazine investment". 15 April 2011.
  9. "Simon Dolan The Twitter Investor".
  10. "History of Mandalay Estate Mustique". Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  11. Middleton, Christopher (11 January 2016). "Inside David Bowie's holiday home". The Telegraph.
  12. Rowe, Marsha (23 June 2014). "Felix Dennis obituary". The Guardian.
  13. "Contractor Umbrella".
  14. Jones, Amy (1 May 2020). "Leading businessman launches legal challenge against Government's lockdown measures". Telegraph. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  15. "Crowd Justice legal challenge". Crowd Justice. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  16. "The Upstart – 'How to make millions without a degree' review". Archived from the original on 4 September 2014.
  17. "Daily Express – Make millions even after dropping out of school".
  18. "The Wright Stuff – Q & A session with business men and women".
  19. Dolan, Simon (18 August 2011). "The Telegraph – You don't need a degree to get ahead". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  20. "Jota Sport Sign Aston Martin Deal". 8 June 2010. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012.
  21. "Team Jota win Spa 24 Hours in GT4". 2 August 2010.
  22. "Le Mans 24 Hours: Marc Gene to replace Duval in #1 Audi". crash.net. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  23. "JOTA Sport Announces Partnership With Gazprom Neft" Archived 13 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine fiawec.com
  24. "Van der Garde wins on sportscar debut with Jota in Silverstone ELMS" autosport.com/
  25. "ELMS Estoril: Van der Garde seals championship in Jota Sport Gibson" autosport.com/
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jon Lancaster
Björn Wirdheim
Gary Hirsch		 European Le Mans Series
LMP2 Champion
2016
With: Giedo van der Garde & Harry Tincknell		 Succeeded by
Memo Rojas
Leo Roussel
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