UKs most generous boss vows to give all future profits to charity

Colin Potter, the businessman who sold his hugely successful company and gave millions of pounds to his staff is planning to give away millions more - but this time to charity.

The 55 year-old Hampshire based entrepreneur was hailed as the UKís ímost generous bossí last year when he sold Fareham-based communications company Uniworld for 10 million and gave 2 million of the proceeds to his staff. Now he has launched a new company, ProposalGENie, in Portsmouth, producing a pioneering web-based system for preparing sales proposals, and he and his wife Barbara have vowed to donate all their future profits to local causes.

Inspiration behind their generosity was a visit Mr Potter made last year to the pioneering Rainbow Centre in Fareham, which provides conductive education for children with motor impairments, such as cerebral palsy. He was so moved by the courage of children and dedication of staff that as well as making donations he now devotes a day a week to fundraising for the charity.

You get heaped with praise for achievements in business but when you go somewhere like the Rainbow Centre and see what the staff do then it all pales in comparison,íí he said. I was humbled.ííDespite their millions, the coupleís lives have not changed, they live in the same four bed family home in Gosport and Colin drives a three year old Volvo. Their major indulgences are walking holidays.

Mr Potter developed the revolutionary ProposalGENie while at Uniworld and credits it with enabling the company to develop into one of the regionís fastest growing communication firms, increasing turnover to 24 million in four years.The system, the first of its kind, enables sales staff to produce proposals of consistently high quality in minutes. The firm employs 50 staff at its HQ on the Haslar Marine Technology Park.

ProposalGENie provides access to a web-based database containing a companyís standard text passages, product and pricing information and calculation formulas. Users can click on a text of their choice and print a customised sales proposal in minutes.

Mr Potter said: We aim for ProposalGENie to be very big within two years. There is a tremendous amount of interest in the UK and I am taking it to overseas distributors next month.

Barbara and I donít need any more money. The reasons I am doing this are purely to give money away and because I love the excitement of building a business.

We own 40 per cent of ProposalGENie. We plan to set up a trust and hope to be able to start giving money to local charities by the end of this year.íí