Sean Caulfield, 40, grew up in Essex, eastern England. He left school at 16, worked in various retail businesses until he was 30 and then moved to Italy, where he set up and runs To Tuscany, a property rental company. He lives in Chianti.

I was born in Dagenham, Essex, and grew up in Gidea Park, Romford. My Irish father had moved to England and by the time I was growing up he was chief executive of International Stores, one of the biggest supermarket chains at that time. This really gave me the confidence to set out to achieve whatever I wanted. It also helped to live in a neighbourhood where all the people around me started with very little yet created hugely successful businesses. So, in a way, setting up a company came naturally to me.