Harvey du Cros

Harvey du Cros transformed a cycling defeat into global industry when his sons lost a race against Dunlop's pneumatic tyres, prompting him to float the company that would dominate world roads. Born in Dublin in 1846, he scattered his six boys across the globe within a month of founding the business, forcing them to sell rubber everywhere cycles existed. The venture generated three million pounds before he sold it in 1896, proving that genuine vision often arrives disguised as ordinary ambition.