Get Involved :: Alumni

Mark Richards, JA alum, and founder of The Richards
Group, LLC

“When you start opening doors, more and more doors begin to open for you.”

That’s the simple, yet powerful philosophy of Mark Richards, owner of the Richards Group, LLC, and proud Junior Achievement alumnus.  

With the Richards Group, Mark oversees the operations of six lucrative companies, all based out of South Carolina, and has aspirations to grow those six companies into 60 before his time is finished. Mark believes that while there are very few “billion dollar ideas” out there, there are a “limitless number of one to 10 million dollar ideas,” and he intends to test those limits.

First gaining capital to start the Richards Group, the then 23-year-old began cutting down trees and cleaning up after 1989’s Hurricane Hugo ravaged his hometown coastal community. As Mark says, “if you don’t have resources, that only means you have to be more creative.”

While Mark has always been very business-oriented, he attributes a lot to his participation in the JA Company Program as a young man in South Carolina. After opening his first business in 1990 at the age of 24, Mark immediately began to give back. He currently volunteers twice a week in the classroom for JA, and is the Chairman of the Board for Junior Achievement of Coastal South Carolina, Inc.

Learn more about the Richards Group, LLC here http://richardsgroup.com/.