Theodoros Paphitis (Greek: Θεόδωρος Παφίτης; born 24 September 1959) is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur.
He is the owner of stationery chain Ryman, the homewares specialist Robert Dyas and lingerie retailer Boux Avenue.
His father then bought a terraced house in Gorton, Manchester where he lived for three years, attending Peacock Street junior school in the area.
[5] Aged 21, he joined Legal & General selling commercial mortgages, which taught him to read other businesses' balance sheets.
[5] Spotting the rise in mobile telephones, he bought into NAG Telecom, becoming chairman alongside fellow director Tony Kleanthous.
Paphitis gained a large market share for NAG by negotiating concessionary positions in Ryman stationery stores.
In 2006, he sold his equity stake in the UK and EU segment of the global lingerie brand, La Senza, for a reported £100m.
The series examined the stories of artists, scientists, manufacturers and brand owners looking to sell their products and services to UK retailers including Boots and Liberty.
In March 2014, he appeared in Famous, Rich and Hungry, a two-part BBC documentary series which aimed to promote awareness of British people living in poverty, and raise money for Sport Relief.
In September 2019, Paphitis returned to the seventeenth series of Dragons' Den for four episodes, stepping-in for Touker Suleyman, who had been recovering from a short-term illness.
[22] In June 2021, Paphitis once again returned to Dragons' Den, this time for its eighteenth series, for three episodes as a replacement for Peter Jones, due to him self isolating from COVID-19.
In 2008, Kira Cochrane of The Guardian newspaper criticised him for saying that although women may refuse to take maternity leave, "their brains turn to mush" after the pregnancy and "they take three months off".