At the young age of 27, Stelios began his entrepreneur journey of building the easy family of brands also known as easyGroup, instantly recognisable thanks to easyJet, easyHotel, easyStorage, easyProperty, easyGym and now easyNetworks – to name just a few.
The third edition of easyHistory celebrates the creation of easyGroup and its progress over the last 27 years from becoming a small airline flying out from Luton airport to becoming the household name it is today. After successfully building his first company, Stelmar, a B2B (business-to-business) shipping company, Stelios Haji-Ioannou wanted to move from his father’s shadow and create his own empire. From 1993, he set his sights on aviation since deregulation had led to the emergence of low-cost airlines. After constant hard work, business meetings and research, Stelios founded his company, easyJet. A name he thought up and wrote on a napkin during lunch at Monaco’s Hotel de Paris – if he only knew how famous and successful this idea would grow to be.
As a keen entrepreneur, he expanded easy’s brand across many industries, bringing more value products and services into the easyFamily all supported by his strong distinctive brand. His vision for easyGroup is to develop Europe’s leading value brands into a global force, painting the world orange whilst they are at it.
Richard Gwilliam, easyNetworks’ MD and founder, spoke enthusiastically about his decision to join the easy family and partner with Sir Stelios:
“The impact of the joining the easy family of brands, and our customer’s response to the rebrand has been incredibly positive, and this is a fantastic opportunity for us to extend our reach across the UK. I have a team of amazing dedicated technical experts who know their subject inside out, a suite of IT and Telecoms services businesses desperately need, and now we have a nationally recognised brand that shouts good value and honesty.”
This partnership has impacted our business in the best way. The easyGroup mission and vision are closely aligned with my personal values to offer simple excellent value IT and Telecoms services in an industry rife with “smoke and mirrors” pricing and overly complicated, ridiculously long and completely unnecessary contracts. It’s always been in our DNA to give our customers the best deal, it’s just a bit more obvious now!
