NO.12 - MICHEL-EDOUARD LECLERC (E. LECLERC)

Age: 66

Years at current company: 12

Industry: Retail

Turnover: $42.6bn

Rate of growth: 2% since 2013

A person of power and influence, Michel-Edouard Leclerc is mass distribution’s archetypal enfant terrible. As soon as he joined the family business at the end of the 1970s, he started multiplying profit centers by orchestrating international expansion and expanding the scope of the business. And to do so he had no hesitation in tackling monopolies and diversifying into everything in sight: travel, textiles, jewellery, cultural products...you name it. His new hobby horse: organic food, with the aim of being the leading distributor by 2020.

Notable success: In 1991, he managed to end the pharmacy monopoly for para-pharmaceutical products. An amazing feat in a country like France which, at the end of 2017, meant the brand had a total of 255 speciality shops.