Sir Ian Wood - the humble billionaire driven by hard work and heart

As a girl growing up in the North East of Scotland in the early eighties, I became aware of the Wood name at a young age. Friends whose parents worked for his company carried a light, modern and positive air. New cars, holidays in the sun and - wow - VHS recorders, became the norm for those employed by The Wood Group and I always remember the thick white business cards and red company logo. It seemed like a pass to a new world.

In later life, I interviewed Sir Ian several times and always enjoyed the chat and the challenge to get into the character of this man who accomplished so much, but did not show it. He had an incredibly measured demeanor and didn’t like to be called boss, hated the notion of billionaire’s clubs and never, ever wanted a private jet. For Ian, that would just not be good value.

READ MORE: Sir Ian Wood - Why I’ll never have a private jet

As a good man of the North East, he wasn’t prone to high emotion, fuss or statements of the frivillous, but held a deep seated notion of care about the people round about him - and fortunes of others on all sides of the world and how they could be changed by good decisions, opportunity and astute acumen. Although he officially ‘retired’ from the Wood Group in 2012, there was always something else to worry about, always something else to get right and another problem needing to be fixed.

“If you wake up in the morning and you think you have made it, you should stay in bed. There are always new things to do. I have still got a bunch of ambitions and objectives,” he said.

How Aberdeen and the North East fared and functioned, both in the present and the future, was a constant bother.

In 2017, a new £10m car park, funded by the family’s foundation, was opened at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The project was driven by the experience of his wife, Lady Helen, and the added stresses of trying to drive to the hospital to see a loved one.

What happened to Aberdeen in the post-oil and gas years continued to be a massive concern. The Wood Foundation helped set up the Oil and Gas Technology Centre , a £360m project designed to keep oil services rooted in the Aberdeen area far beyond the North Sea production years.

Opportunity North East, which aimed to diversify the economy beyond fossil fuels - into areas such as food and drink and biosciences - and support energy transition was supported by tens of millions of family wealth.

“What we are trying to do is see if I and others can help the North East of Scotland see its way through the best of North Sea oil and past it.

“That is my nightmare, that we took it all for ourselves and have left nothing for future generations and I really worry about that,” he said in 2018.

He also pledged £50m to transform Union Terrace Gardens with the ‘transformational’ City Gardens Project to improve Aberdeen’s civic space and improve its chances as a visitor destination, but the city council ultimately rejected the proposal, despite it winning public approval. The gardens have since been redesigned.

Sir Ian continued to work six days a week deep into his seventies - and perhaps even later than that.

READ MORE: Rwanda’s rock star welcome for oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood

I accompanied Sir Ian with a couple of other journalists to Rwanda in 2018 to see the tea processing factory which the Wood Foundation Africa was then in the process of passing into the ownership of tea planters, which would give them direct income, after Sir Ian and his team knocked it into a decent business shape.

He travelled with his own little plastic bag of decaf tea bags from home and at night, when we enjoyed some beers and food and cooler air by the pool, Sir Ian chose to stay in his room to order soup from room service and tend to a bundle of paperwork, which he always carried with him. The trip was a successful one as the tea factory reached the point of handover, but again, there was so much still to do.

“ Never in my life would I say I was in a happy place. If I was in a happy place I would just stay in my bed in the morning,” he said on reflection of his work in Africa.

READ MORE: Sir Ian Wood’s bid to build a better Rwanda through a fairly-priced cup of tea

It was in Rwanda that he just could not escape the praise when special ceremony on a beating hot day was held for the 5,000 or so tea farmers to mark their achievements for the past year. Sir Ian was there as the special guest and to help with prize giving - which included a cow and cooking pots - but was given a hero's welcome as he walked into the arena.

The farmers were on their feet, songs were sung, arms were waving as he moved among the people. Dancers pounded the ground, circling the billionaire, clapping and smiling. Babies were passed over for a hug from Sir Ian, who was beaming away.

“Franky, I find it embarrassing,” he said later, but admitted he wanted to show them how happy he was for them.

“I am always looking at how we can do more, how we can do better. The work never ends here and that is because the hardship never ends,” he added.

Above all, the number one concern for Sir Ian was his family - his wife, Lady Helen, his three sons and his many grandchildren, and the time he spent with them, particularly at their estate in Perthshire, where he rode his Vespa and climbed nearby hills. This was where his true fortune lay.