Richard Branson
<p>Nov 30, 2008 11:30 AM</p>
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born 1950  Virgin brand of over 360 companies.  At age 16 published Student magazine.</p>
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In the late 1990s, Branson and musician and activist <a href="/wiki/Peter_Gabriel" title="Peter Gabriel">Peter Gabriel</a> discussed with <a href="/wiki/Nelson_Mandela" title="Nelson Mandela">Nelson Mandela</a> their idea of a small, dedicated group of leaders, working objectively and without any vested personal interest to solve difficult global conflicts<sup class="noprint Template-Fact">[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><i>citation needed</i></a>]</sup>.
On 18 July 2007, in <a href="/wiki/Johannesburg" title="Johannesburg">Johannesburg</a>, <a href="/wiki/South_Africa" title="South Africa">South Africa</a>, Nelson Mandela announced the formation of a new group, <a href="/wiki/Global_Elders" title="Global Elders">The Elders</a>, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday. The founding members of this group are <a href="/wiki/Desmond_Tutu" title="Desmond Tutu">Desmond Tutu</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gra%C3%A7a_Machel" title="Graça Machel">Graça Machel</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kofi_Annan" title="Kofi Annan">Kofi Annan</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ela_Bhatt" title="Ela Bhatt">Ela Bhatt</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtland" title="Gro Harlem Brundtland">Gro Harlem Brundtland</a>, <a href="/wiki/Jimmy_Carter" title="Jimmy Carter">Jimmy Carter</a>, <a href="/wiki/Li_Zhaoxing" title="Li Zhaoxing">Li Zhaoxing</a>, <a href="/wiki/Mary_Robinson" title="Mary Robinson">Mary Robinson</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus" title="Muhammad Yunus">Muhammad Yunus</a>.<a href="#cite_note-17" title=""><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17">[18]</sup></a>
<a href="/wiki/Global_Elders" title="Global Elders">The Elders</a> will be independently funded by a group of<b> "Founders", including Branson and Gabriel</b>.
Desmond Tutu serves as the chair of <a href="/wiki/Global_Elders" title="Global Elders">The Elders</a>—who will use their collective skills to catalyze peaceful resolutions to long-standing conflicts, articulate new approaches to global issues that are causing or may cause immense human suffering, and share wisdom by helping to connect voices all over the world. They will work together over the next several months to carefully consider which specific issues they will approach.
In September 2007, Richard Branson chaired the jury of the first <a href="/wiki/Picnic_Green_Challenge" title="Picnic Green Challenge">Picnic Green Challenge</a>, a €500.000 award for best new green initiative, set up by the Dutch Postcode Lottery and the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.picnicnetwork.org" class="external text" title="http://www.picnicnetwork.org">PICNIC Network</a> of creative professionals. The first Green Challenge was won by <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.Qurrent.com" class="external text" title="http://www.Qurrent.com">Qurrent</a> with the Qbox.
In March 2008, Richard Branson hosted an environmental gathering at his private island, Necker Island, in the Caribbean with several prominent entrepreneurs, celebrities, and world leaders. They discussed global warming-related problems facing the world, hoping that this meeting will be a precursor to many more future discussions regarding similar problems. Former British Prime Minister <a href="/wiki/Tony_Blair" title="Tony Blair">Tony Blair</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> co-founder <a href="/wiki/Jimmy_Wales" title="Jimmy Wales">Jimmy Wales</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Larry_Page" title="Larry Page">Larry Page</a> of <a href="/wiki/Google" title="Google">Google</a> were in attendance.<a href="#cite_note-18" title=""><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18">[19]</sup></a></p>