Millionaire Sir Alec Reed, founder of Reed Executive Ltd - which many of you will know for Reed recuitment agency, gave Ealing pupils some advice when he paid them a special visit.

Sir Alec visited the Northolt school he sponsors and which is named after him, Alec Reed Academy, to celebrate its 15th anniversary and best ever GCSE results.

At a ceremony on September 12, Sir Alec cut a large cake and spoke to year 9 pupils about the tools needed for success.

He urged them to never stop coming up with ideas and to not lose confidence if at first they don't succed.

Sir Alec said: "I have got a history of failing. I failed my eleven-plus, not to mention my accountancy exams three times. I think people should not be afraid of failing.

"My mother gave me enormous confidence so I never thought I was failing. I think confidence is the biggest gift you can give anybody."

Founder Sir Alec Reed with a vast celebratory cake

Given his successful business background, it is unsurprising that Sir Alec is keen to pass on his passion for business to students.

He said: "One of the specialisms in this school is innovation. We inherited it with a sports specialism but I think we need to step up the innovation side of things, direct the school and encourage students to get jobs.

"One piece of advice I give all of them is have ideas. The workplace has changed rapidly, it is now people with ideas rather than knowledge who do well.

"I used to have a theory that capitalism is over and people-ism rules but that turned out to be wrong. So many businesses start out caring about great individuals with fantastic ideas then sell out to capitalism, tech companies are a great example."

The Alec Reed Academy was formed in 2003 from the merger of two schools and now teaches pupils from the ages of 3 to 19, who collectively speak 56 languages at home.

Sir Alec said: "I am delighted to celebrate the 15 Anniversary of this Academy, with it’s amazing buildings, extensive grounds and above all it’s fantastic ethos shared by all the teachers and pupils.

"What makes Alec Reed Academy special is the blood, sweat and tears the staff put into it. It's a fabulous building but it would be nothing without the right people in it so the staff and pupils must get the credit."

The school was rated Good by Ofsted in June, with Sir Alec arguing there should not be an Outstanding category "because it damages struggling schools".

He decided to become one of the academy's first sponsors due to having been schooled in Ealing, at the Drayton Manor Grammar School (now Drayton High).

Founder Sir Alec Reed with associate principal Anne Franklin (left), CEO & Principal Gary Lobbett & associate principal Phil Cosby

Among his other failures, Sir Alec lists a brief foray into selling home-brewed aftershave, which he estimates earning about £5 from, and leaving school at 16 without the exam results needed to get into his preferred college, adding that school was "not the happiest days of his life".

He largely credits his turnaround in fortune, which led to him being knighted for services to business and charity in 2011, to a desire to compete with his more successful brother and a passion for ideas.

He said: "At my last permanent job at Gillette, they encouraged ideas. If you came up with a reasonable idea you would get a tenner, which was a lot of money in those days, so I used to put up lots of them.

"I got overtaken by the ideas, it's almost an illness, and I wanted to make sure they came to fruition. I felt the only way to do that was to be self-employed."

Sir Alec decided to open Reed Employment's first branch in Hounslow in May 1960 after hearing someone from an employment agency boasting about how much business they were doing at a party.

He added: "I was lucky in that it was the same time they were building London airport so they were fighting over applicants. My mother was always very supportive too, she did the invoices for the first few weeks."