People: A Big Issue for Caan

James Caan, the Pakistani-born entrepreneur, philanthropist and star of TV’s Dragon’s Den, is to become chairman of the The Big Issue magazine, the entertainment and current affairs publication distributed by homeless vendors, which has a circulation of 147,000. Serial entrepreneur Caan, who heads the private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw, says, ‘The Big Issue embodies my firm belief that we all need a helping hand sometimes.’

He commends the magazine’s ‘ability to work with homeless people without their dignity being sacrificed’. The vendors buy copies of The Big Issue for 75p each, sell them for £1.50p and pocket the difference.

Caan, originally Nazim Khan, came to England from Lahore with his mother, sister and brother when he was two years old, when his father was working in a garment factory near London’s Brick Lane. He was in financial services by the age of 19, driving a Mercedes and wearing designer suits.

He borrowed £30,000 to buy a boutique for his future wife, Aisha. Within two years they had three shops, making £12,000 a month. Caan was driving a Rolls-Royce and then decided to set up a West End recruitment agency for financial services.

John Bird, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, describes the publication as a ‘unique business proposition’. It circulates abroad in Australia, Japan and South Africa and there are plans to launch it in India and Pakistan soon.