- Source of Wealth: Business (A4e – Action for employment)
- Age: 56
- Birth Place: Colchester, Essex, England
- Marital Status: Married (Jim Harrison)
- Full Name: Emma Louise Harrison CBE
- Nationality: British
- Date of Birth: 13 August 1963
- Ethnicity: English
- Occupation: Founder and Former Chairman of A4e
- Education: University of Bradford
- Children: 4
Emma Harrison, best known for appearing on Channel 4’s Make Me a Million and The Secret Millionaire programs, set up Action for Employment, now A4e, to provide training and opportunities for people who lost their jobs in Sheffield’s steel industry.
The organization manages $368.04 million of government training contracts and operates in 11 countries, employing 3,300 people. For Harrison, who has been called in by David Cameron to spearhead the coalition’s drive to help families who have never worked get off benefits and into jobs, success has been earned the hard way. Harrison played truant in her mid-teens and was assigned a social worker who helped her get back on track.
After “mediocre” A-levels put paid to a career in medicine, she spent six months sitting at home watching television, and eventually went back to college to do engineering, enrolling on a two-year course that she finished in eight months. She then talked her way onto a Bradford University engineering degree program sponsored by British Steel. On graduating in 1987, she began retraining unemployed steel workers through A4e and hasn’t looked back.
She lives with her husband and four children in the 12th-century stately home in the Peak District that she first visited on an outdoor activity course with her social worker. A4e’s profits increased to $11.78 million on $234.32 million turnover in 2009-10. The Sheffield business is worth $98.14 million,with Harrison’s stake at $83.42 million. The Sunday Times Rich List added $2.45 million for other assets.